Apocryphal Heroes
by Avihmed Enhanced
Summary: Have you ever wondered what would happen if Type-moon had just used the main cast from Stay Night and inserted them in Apocrypha instead of having to create a whole bunch of new magus which later is never used in the earlier volumes? Well then, read Apocryphal Heroes and find out. WARNING: Heavy spoilers for Fate/Apocrypha.
1. Five Months Ago

**Disclaimer: **Fate Apocrypha and Fate Stay Night belongs to Type-Moon

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><p>'<em><strong>Apocryphal<strong>_' - Something false or fake; of doubtful authorship or authenticity, although widely thought to be true. Originating from the word 'Apocrypha', a group of 14 books, not considered canonical, included in the Old Testament, but usually omitted from Protestant editions of the Bible.

'_**Heroes**_' – The Greatest of Man; a person with distinguishable traits; defender or protector.

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><p><strong>Five Months Ago, Clock Tower, London.<strong>

"Hmmmmmm," Rocco Belfaban scanned the report over a dozen times, unsure what to make of it. He was in a dim room that seemed to be twisting all sense of direction one would look. The room was unbelievably wide, yet the way it was made him uncomfortably claustrophobic. There was a single candle lit in the middle of the room that was the only source of light for everyone else present inside.

"So….only one returned," Belfaban said indifferently. He was an old man, short but straight-backed, the creases on his skin made his face gleamed like he was a statue carved of wood. Rocco Belfaban was the current head of the Department of Summoning and it was known that that he held his title for over fifty years, though no one is actually certain about that fact, this made it almost impossible for anyone to tell his age if he never told it.

Another nodded at Belfaban's hoarse murmur.

"I was able to witness the battle for myself through a familiar... it was a fearsome sight. That 'thing' should not be allowed to exist no matter what," a younger man said. He was a handsome individual with red hair. It was hard not to believe that he was a member of the elite even among the common folk, especially from a single glance at his strong, high-minded gaze and refined features. His words carried a strong sense of duty that showed what type of person he was.

The handsome man was Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, his name carried weight as one of the lords aligned to the El-Melloi faction. Currently he was the successor to the Department of Evocation and a first-class instructor in the Clock Tower.

Belfaban nodded in agreement and then shifted his gaze to the last person in the room who continued to remain silent since he read the report. The man had loose long hair. He furrowed his brow in displeasure.

"What do you think, Lord El-Melloi?" Bram said. The man didn't respond, instead he went on to light his cigar in his hand with the single candle's flame in the middle of the room. The man called El-Melloi shook his head slowly from side to side.

"That's El-Melloi the Second," he corrected Bram.

"As much as I appreciate questionable respect coming from an elder such as yourself, keep the 'II'. That name is unbearably grating without it," he added while puffing the cigarette.

"My mistake," Bram apologized, bowing his head.

"How do you perceive the situation, Lord El-Melloi II?" Bram continued to ask.

"Well….it's clear that we'll have to change the way we approach this. After all, we just lost forty-nine of our best magi. One of them survived, but he's in no condition to do anything for now," Lord El-Melloi II spoke up. Looking back at the report, he still had a hard time believing that a single familiar was able to ruin their operation. Fifty of the finest and strongest mages of the Clock Tower wiped from the face of the world without even the familiar batting an eyelash. As a result, all of them were found dead with pikes embedded through them with only one was able to do something about it.

"Still….thanks to his efforts we now have another chance to plan a counter-attack. If we can assemble seven Masters of our own, victory may yet be ours," Lord El-Melloi continued.

"But who would go? You've read the report. We've lost fifty, FIFTY of our finest mages in the first wave of our operation, one of them barely survived. Word of this has spread throughout London, and no one is willing to go for the real thing when there are more pressing concerns to attend to in such a short span of a time like choosing for the successor of their crest or finishing their research before they end up dead. We barely have anyone else prepared for combat on such a grand scale and any half-wit magus we send will end up dead anyway, even the surrounding area of Trifas is under their control," Bram snickered in skepticism. It wasn't that he thought that getting back the Grail was unimportant, it was just that he thought losing too much will only smear the Clock Tower's, and as an extension his own name since he was the one planning the whole thing.

The room was silent at the truth that was presented to them. Lord El-Melloi II, gazed in silence, he flickered one of the pages in his file until one caught his attention. It was a profile of a student he was currently funding to study in the Clock Tower, one named Tohsaka Rin from Fuyuki City.

He snickered as his eyes scanned the profile, an idea was forming in his head.

"Gentlemen, I think I have a proposal for this endeavor of ours," Lord El-Melloi finally spoke. The other two looked towards him, curiously wondering what it might be.

"I believe the right course of action would be to call the original three founding families of the Holy Grail," Lord El-Melloi II finally revealed.

There was a moment of silence as the other two individuals took in what Lord El-Melloi said.

"What?!" Bram bellowed in outrage, breaking the silence.

"Putting aside the politics that we will surely get ourselves entangled with by involving them, didn't you heard me earlier that we can't send in half-wit mages, they'll be decimated in the first day, and that is IF they don't start shooting at each other for command!" Bram continued furiously. El-Melloi was unfazed with Bram's outburst, instead he continued puffing his cigarette.

"Calm down Bram," El-Melloi said.

"I will NOT calm down. This operation is directly under my jurisdiction! MY name will be the one on the line if Yggdmillennia somehow overthrew the Clock Tower by gaining the Third Magic!" Bram continued. Belfaban remained silent in thought throughout the debacle between El-Melloi and Bram. He was contemplating on whether to go with El-Melloi's proposal or not, something at the back of his mind suddenly came up. A long forgotten request made by the Einzberns some twenty years ago involving the search and excavation of a powerful magical artifact in Cornwall.

"We are already in a pinch since there are so few summoning catalyst left for us to use to summon a real hero to fight for the Holy Grail War, coupled that with half-wit mages, I will guarantee you that we will not survive the first week of this operation!" Bram said towards Lord El-Melloi, continuing with his rage at the plan that he thought was outlandish.

"Bram, I think I will have to agree with El-Melloi II with this decision," Rocco Belfaban finally spoke up, silencing the young man.

"Y-you…..what?!" Bram said, not believing Belfaban's statement. He then remained silent to hear what Belfaban had to say.

"There were three families involved in the workings of the original Holy Grail War in Fuyuki. The Einzberns, the Tohsakas and the Makiris, now known as the Matous. I've personally dealt with the Einzberns a couple of times," Belfaban began.

"For the past twenty years the Einzberns have been searching the world for their lost artifact that were stolen by the Nazis since the third Fuyuki Holy Grail War. They've been on a wild goose chase ever since, going from one Holy Grail War to another only to find out that each one was a fake, only succeeding to bring the remnants of what was used for the ritual but never the real artifact," Belfaban said.

"So what?! That doesn't make them any better than our own magi," Bram said, not wanting to give in.

"They've entered in twelve wars, TWELVE Bram. Twelve False Holy Grail Wars. In the five wars that were able to actually summon a proper servant, it was rumored that they summoned the strongest of the servants, the Saber class servant, and they won all of them regardless!" Belfaban exclaimed, huffing at the last sentence.

"WHAT?!"

Belfaban's words finally sank in, Bram was left speechless. Even Lord El-Melloi was almost stunned. He had once entered in one of these False Holy Grail Wars, though it was rumored that it was nothing compared to the original since no one actually knew how to enact the real Heaven's Feel other than the Einzberns and that was before they lost their Grail to the Nazis, only blueprints on how to create such a ritual existed with many not even being able to summon proper servants. Even though what he entered was only a slice of the real deal, the servants that were summoned were still powerful and dangerous and the magus that competed in them were as crazy as anyone wanting to win a wish-granting device though eventually it never came to that.

The experience had left Lord El-Melloi a changed man, literally, and that was from a single war. For a single family, one that was kind of isolated from the Clock Tower to continue to venture over and over again in a span of twenty years in an endeavor to bring back their lost treasure only to find out that it was a fake, El-Melloi didn't want to think what type of person could actually go through such a thing without breaking, and that's not including the resources needed.

Rethinking this backward, if the Einzberns got wind that Clock Tower was amassing a team to reclaim the 'real' Holy Grail, the one that was actually theirs, which they might with their apparent obsession, and yet they weren't invited to participate, they might choose to switch sides and fight alongside Yggdmillennia.

"B-but, how? How were they able to survive each one and still continue?" Bram asked, still a little skeptic.

"I heard the Magus Killer is now with the Einzberns, and is part of the family now," Belfaban said.

"You mean THE Magus Killer?! The real one? Not just some random freelancer that took the name so he could brag about it?!" Bram asked skeptically.

"Nope, this is the real deal, its Emiya, The Magus Killer, and in each war they entered, they've been sending him," Belfaban confirmed.

"Oh my god," Bram held his brow, contemplating the situation, taking in everything that he was told. By now he too would have figured out that if they didn't invite the Einzberns then they will surely side with Yggdmillennia, and that meant what-could-be a confirmed Saber class servant on their side with the added bonus of having a trained Magus Killer.

"Ok, ok, ok. I see your point El-Melloi," Bram finally said defeated.

"But what about the others? What about the Tohsakas and the Matous? Can their abilities be attested for? The Magus Killer is only one man, we're talking about a whole team here," Bram continued ranting.

"I can personally attest for the skill of the current Tohsaka heir, she is one of my students here in the Clock Tower and is an Average One," Lord El-Melloi declared.

"An Average One?!" Bram said not believing what El-Melloi said.

"Aye, and the Tohsakas will get wind of this whether we like it or not since we eventually need a master from the Church to show our legitimacy, that will solve the problem of the chain of command," El-Melloi continued.

"The Church. BAH! I almost forgot," Bram said in disappointment. If they wanted to show that they had the backing of the magical community, then it was pertinent that the Church was involved, since they wouldn't want the Church to become a neutral mediator and then give the Grail to Yggdmillennia if they won, that meant that they would have to allow a spot for a member of the Holy Church.

"Then there are the Matous, so the rest we could finally choose from our own members," Bram said in annoyance. It was apparent that he didn't like the idea one bit, but couldn't find an alternative to the upcoming problems if they chose otherwise.

"We could ask the Einzberns to 'pitch' in their own Homunculus and resources, theirs are the only ones that could match Yggdmillennia's in perfection, maybe even better since their whole family is focused on alchemy and the creation of the perfect Homunculus," Belfaban added. Bram turned pale at the idea of getting the Einzberns any more involved than what they were already are.

"B-but if we ask any more from them, they would want something in return, maybe even another spot for a master!" Bram said in fear.

"We don't have much of a choice in the matter, the Clock Tower has expanded enough resources from YOUR previous 'failed' operation. Face it Bram, we don't have enough resources, let alone are good at making an army of Homunculi like Yggdmillennia in such a short time, some of us barely know the true workings of the Holy Grail and how to actually move it from Trifas without killing everyone, and we may not be able to find enough magus before the war begins," Belfaban reasoned.

"And what is stopping the Einzberns from taking all of the seven spots as master if they felt that the deal we're making with them isn't up to their standards, they are more capable, knowledgeable and more experienced in the Holy Grail Wars than anyone else we could name, maybe even surpassing Yggdmillennia," Belfaban added. It was clear that they were in a tight spot, either die by one way or live through another.

"Arghhh, ok, you have me convinced," Bram finally complied.

"But!" he went on.

"Everything must be reported directly to me first and only on my say so that anything is allowed, if the Einzberns want to send two or three masters or whatever, I want to know who and what are their capabilities, if the Church suddenly requests for something outlandish I want to know WHY, if the Tohsakas or Matous doesn't show the capabilities that I was promised, I want them out of the war, do I make myself clear?!" Bram spoke, trying to get in control of the situation.

The other two men nodded in agreement, thou there was still a smirk on Lord El-Melloi's face, as if he can't believe someone like Bram, behind all that confidence and name, he was simply a man who feared the desecration of his name.

You won't achieve anything in life if you don't risk anything, El-Melloi thought. He puffed his cigarette.

"I'll head the search on the holy relics for the catalyst needed for the summoning. Time may not be on my side, but I'm certain I can find the right catalyst for us to summon servants that will be on par with the enemy's," Belfaban said. He was the head of the Department of Summoning, so it was only natural that he took this role.

'Ok, I'll leave you with that Belfaban," Bram approved.

In the twenty years between now and then, a lot of the catalyst that could have been used for summoning strong servants from the Age of Heroes were lost because of the many rising Fake Holy Grail Wars. Any catalyst by itself, was an old artifact from the age the Hero originated from, they would have withered and rot right away after a single use, making it hard to find any catalyst to summon any of the 'real' and 'famous' heroes of the world such as King Arthur or Heracles. But Bram was confident with Belfaban's ability to find the catalyst they needed, and it wasn't like Yggdmillennia had it easy either, if he had to compare between the two, Belfaban's experience far exceed that of Yggdmillennia's in finding the right catalyst.

"I'll contact the three families and search for additional masters alongside contacting the Holy Church," Lord El-Melloi offered himself.

"Ok then, I want a good deal with the three families, especially the Einzberns, make it sound like they need us more than we need them," Bram said. In reality, he didn't know which one was the case.

"So then I'll adjourn this meeting for now, any progress report it immediately at my office," he ordered.

The other men nodded and stood up from their places. Bram still stayed aback, he was still thinking about the plan to make sure they win this Great Holy Grail War. A master from each of the three families, and the Magus Killer as a consolation prize. That was when Bram finally remembered something that was bugging him the entire time during their discussion about the Magus Killer, only now did he finally remembered it.

His face turned pale at the realization. He ran outside from the room and quickly dashed to find Rocco Belfaban. He wasn't that far ahead and Bram was able to catch up before he disappeared.

"Belfaban! Rocco! WAIT!" he shouted in Belfaban's direction, puffing to take a breather as he finally reached him.

"What?! Something else you want to whine about?" Belfaban said jokingly.

*Huff*

*huff*

"You. Him. The…..the Magus Killer," Bram spoke, panting.

"Yeah, what about him?" Belfaban asked.

"He's DEAD! You tricked me! I remembered reading an article about a report on his death due to a curse or something. And that was FIVE YEARS AGO!" Bram exploded. Belfaban looked confused at Bram for his sudden uproar.

"Ohh, you've never heard of his son have you?" Belfaban said, lightly chuckling.

"Son?" Bram said in disbelief.

"The Magus Killer has a SON?!" Bram said, still not believing it.

"Yep, and quite talented too, maybe even surpassing the father, goes by the alias Faker, the Einzberns been training this one really good for the past ten years or so I've heard," Belfaban said nonchalantly. And with that Belfaban continued to head back to his original destination, leaving Bram perplexed where he stood.

"Faker?" Bram said dumbfounded.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

This chapter was an adaptation from part 1 of the first chapter of the English translation of the light novel, Fate/Apocrypha made by Canonrap. I have posted the link to his website if anyone of you want to read the current update of the translation of Fate/Apocrypha. As of now, volume 1 has been fully translated by CanonRap, NanoDesu will be translating volume 2. Don't forget to thank them for all of their hard work.

Rejoice and Comment for your wish has finally been granted!


	2. Four Months Ago

**Four Months Ago, Einzbern Castle, German.**

A black Mercedes Benz came into the driveway of the Einzbern Castle. It drove a four hour journey from the nearest airport in order to pick up an important member of the family who was sent abroad for an important mission, only now returning.

As the Mercedes parked and the engine stopped, the passenger at the back spoke up.

"Thanks Al, I enjoyed the ride," the person spoke in almost perfect German with a hint of Asian dialect. He had golden eyes and rusted colored hair that he tried to comb backwards but it seemed to no avail, there seemed to be slivers of white in his hair. His features was very different from his other family members who predominantly had blonde or white hair and almost all of them had red crimson eyes.

Well to put it more bluntly he was the only Asian along with his late father, while the rest of his family were European.

It was a problem ten years ago when he was first adopted into the family after being found by his father, but eventually after he grew older and got to know more about his family, and they realized how valuable he was to them, everyone eventually accepted him as one of their own, even Old Man Acht trusted him with some of the family secrets, though it might be almost impossible to make the old man laugh with his stoic and serious demeanor.

He couldn't blame Old Man Acht, he was the head of the family, and their survival as a family of magus rest on his shoulders. They said that before his father married into the family, Old Man Acht was a ruthless and cruel person. That eventually changed. He was still ruthless and maybe someone who hadn't smile for decades, but not beyond reasoning. With Old Man Acht, things were straight to the point, for good or for worse, and he hate to come back and become the bringer of bad news to the old man, but he will understand that there was nothing they could have done, accept it and continue to move forward. Maybe it was the effect of something being taken away from you when it was almost within your grasp that Old Man Acht started becoming more calm and understanding.

The passenger door was opened from the outside by a lady wearing a maid outfit with a similar styled hood.

"Welcome back young master Shirou," Sella said while bowing her head, helping Shirou out of the car.

"Thanks Sella, it's good to be home," Shirou said smiling to the maid, then proceeding to step out of the car and onto the pavement that lead into the Great Einzbern Castle. Sella went to the back of the car to take out Shirou's luggage out.

"Ahh, there's no need to trouble yourself, Sella, I can carry my own stuff to my room," Shirou said, moving to the back and taking out his luggage, a leather black suitcase and a guitar bag. He slung the guitar bag over his shoulders and pulled the suitcase inside.

"As you wish master Shirou," Sella said.

"How many times do I have to tell you Sella, you don't need to call me master, I'm fine with only Shirou," Shirou said.

"I'm sorry master Shirou, but that would be poor manners for one such as myself," Sella said with her head tilted down in respect. No matter how many times Shirou had ordered the maids to drop the 'master' title, they just wouldn't give in. He knew it was out of formality and that in front of any of his other family members it was needed for formalities sake, but if it was only them and he really didn't mind if they'd just drop it, in the end they were all the same. It wasn't like he was born into the Einzberns, he had to earn his place, just like his father, so he knew how it felt to be at the bottom of the ladder.

Shirou entered the castle through the front main doors. The castle was humongous, bigger than any castle Shirou had come across in his travels. Spanning almost five acres of land nested in the middle of the wilderness of the hills of Germany. The castle span five stories high, with the highest tower being almost twice that height which lead to the observatory. At the upper levels were the living quarters, there were at least 108 rooms, 33 of them were reserved for family members that stayed within the castle, with their bedchambers and personal study, 10 were for guests which were rare but existed, the rest were the libraries, living room and other rooms for use. It was rare for all the rooms to be used and occupied, but the maids constantly kept them in prime condition. On the ground level was the kitchen, the huge dining room that could fit the whole family that doubled as a grand hall if they had any important occasions which was situated in the center of the castle, the armory, the granary to stock food for the long winters, the barracks where the battle-homunculi stand-by prepared and also the servant's room. There was even a chapel. At the lower levels were the workshops, the treasury and also a wine cellar.

The castle was surrounded by stone walls that enclosed and protected it from the outside elements. Between the walls and the main building were gardens and open spaces. Shirou's mother used to play in these open areas with the car that her dad bought her.

The Einzbern Castle was truly a magnificent sight to behold, especially since it was in the middle of god-knows-where. The only problem was its long winters and snowstorms. It wasn't cold, a bounded field surrounded the castle to prevent that from happening, it was just gloomy to see snow fall every day, Shirou kind of missed the cherry blossoms and greenery Japan had.

By now the whole family would have already known that he was home.

"Shirou's home everyone!" the sound of a young man was heard throughout the halls of the castle.

Oh great, Shirou thought. Just as he thought of wanting to put away his stuff first before he met anyone too.

The sounds of someone with small feet running across the hallway could be heard coming towards Shirou's direction and at a very fast pace. A small child with long white hair and red eyes ran straight towards Shirou.

"Onii-CHAN! Welcome back!" the small figure tackled Shirou, though he still stood even with the large guitar bag hanged on his back.

"Thanks Ilya, it's good to be home," Shirou said, happy to reunite with his little sister. The small girl buried her face in his brother's stomach. She barely even reached his shoulders.

Ilyasviel von Einzbern. That was the name of the biological daughter of his adopted father, Kiritsugu Emiya and his adopted mother, Irisviel von Einzbern. Shirou and everyone else called her Ilya. Though Ilya called him onii-chan, a Japanese word for big brother, Ilya was actually a year older than Shirou, this was due to the fact that Ilya was born as a homunculus. Just like any other homunculus, their growth were stunted, Ilya was lucky to grow at all due to the fact she was conceived biologically from the magic circuit of his father implanted into the womb of her mother, who was also a homunculus, thus she had some human characteristics such as being able to grow to some degree. Ilya called him 'Onii-chan' affectionately instead of the German word for 'big brother' because he originated from Japan.

"Welcome back Shirou," a girl who seemed almost the same age as Shirou came down the grand staircase, she wore a white dress that flowed on the ground. Similar to Ilya, she also had white long hair, which reached the floor and bright red eyes, she wasn't however a homunculus, she had homunculus blood but wasn't one.

"Nice to be back Isolde, you're back from London already? I thought you were going to be there until come summer," Shirou said, pulling Ilya aside so he had room to greet his cousin, Isolde von Einzbern.

"There was an urgent matter that I had to come back to German to report to grandfather. I take it that your search ended in a dead end again?" she said. Shirou was a little taken aback from the comment, Isolde didn't sound like she was trying to discredit him.

"Hey, Onii-chan just came back! And it isn't his fault that we lost the grail, it was those damn Nazis, and Onii-chan is helping us to reclaim it," Ilya said defensively.

"It's ok, no offense taken Isolde. You're right though, it was another dead end and no one was even able to summon a servant to begin with. How did you know?" Shirou asked.

"Well, that's one of the reasons I had to come back, grandfather has also called back all of the family members to return to German," Isolde stated.

"Call everyone back? What's grandpa up to? Was he finally able to recreate the Third Magic?" Shirou asked dumbfounded.

"Well, I can't tell you yet, you better report back to grandfather. I'm sure he'll make everything clear," Isolde said.

"Grandpa's been happy ever since Isolde came back from the Clock Tower," Ilya added. Shirou gave a small chuckle. By 'happy' she meant that Old Man Acht had been coming to dinner and eating with everyone else and actually getting some sleep and maybe some leisure time in the library reading rather than being hold up in his workshop trying to create a better homunculus or go on nights without sleep trying to recreate the Third Magic using one method or the other. In no way that 'happy' grandpa meant that he was smiling, or god-forbid, laughing, it had to be the end of the world if that ever happened.

Sometimes he worried for the health of his grandfather on how he spend his time and how comfortable he was. Spending all night researching wasn't something the old should be committing themselves to, they should be using what little time left they had to be with their family, all of this research and seeking the Third Magic should be left to younger people like himself. That's one of the reasons why he volunteered to search the globe for the Einzberns stolen relic, that and because he didn't have any abilities worth noting that would help in aiding the Einzberns reclaim the Third Magic, unlike his cousin, his skills were more suited for application than research.

"Shirou you're finally back!" a young looking man stride down the grand stairs, he also seemed to be around the same age as Shirou. He had white silver hair with strands of gold with bright crimson eyes. His presence was overwhelming. It shouted nobility, not the boisterous one, instead he had the 'prince-charming' kind of nobility. His name was Justus von Einzbern and was fourth in-line as the heir to the Einzberns. Just like Ilya, his age is almost impossible to discern just from his looks, he looked like in his prime, but Shirou knew that he was at least more than forty or fifty. He could even be older than his late father. Justus offered his hand to welcome Shirou.

"Brother Justus," Shirou replied, shaking the hand of one of his older relatives. Brother Justus was a pragmatic person, he knew value when it was presented to him. He was among the first of Shirou's adopted family to accept him into the family other than his mother and father, even Ilya had a hard time to accept him early on, but it was different with brother Justus, it was part of his upbringing as somebody who had to grow up to become a leader and take Old Man Acht's place if anything happened. He was charismatic, good looking and was somewhat a big-brother figure Shirou looked up to, especially after the death of his mother and father.

That wasn't to say that he was all nice and cheerful, he could be rough when he wanted to, a good way to describe him would be he knew what to do when he needed to do it.

"I'm sorry to hear the reports concerning Panama," Justus said.

"Yeah, that was a sorry one, I almost thought it was the right one too, but in the end nobody was even able to summon a servant," Shirou said disappointingly.

"Well we are just glad that you are back and safe, your skills will be most needed in the upcoming trials. Elder Jubstacheit has ordered me to call back Aurelia, Ernestine, Seraphina, Othmar and Aloysius to return back to German," Justus said.

"So everyone is finally coming back? I would ask what everyone's so hyped about, but I assume I'll only get those answers from grandfather once I report to him," Shirou said.

"That is so, you better head to your room and lay down your luggage, in an hour Elder Jubstacheit would want to meet you personally, as with you Illyasviel," Justus said.

"What does grandpa want with me? I've already finished studying and perfected the twelfth degree of alchemy,"Ilya asked annoyed.

"You should ask him that young Illyasviel," Justus patted the head of Ilya.

"I'll take my leave then brother Shirou, it is good to see you back," Justus said then headed to the lower levels of the Einzbern Castle.

"As will I, my studies have already stagnated due to the message I had to bring from the Clock Tower, I will see you later Shirou," Isolde said, she went back into her room.

Ilya followed Shirou into his room where he carefully placed the guitar bag on an empty table and his suitcase beside his large bed. He unpacked his suitcase first, taking out the worn out clothes and putting it in the laundry so the servants can come and wash it later. He didn't entirely packed out every single piece of clothing in his suitcase, he had some idea why everyone was coming back.

"Why do you think everyone is coming back?" Ilya asked, she laid on his brother's bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Who knows, maybe grandpa had finally found a way to recreate the Third Magic, maybe we finally found the real Holy Grail after all these years, maybe he found a way to recreate one of the other True Magics and wanted to tell the family so everyone would start changing the direction of where the family was headed, whatever it is, it got grandpa in a good mood I guess," Shirou said while looking at himself in the mirror. He held a strand of his hair, staring at it. The hair was changing its color into silver.

Great, he thought. Finally he'll have the same hair color as everyone else, now the only thing left was to change his eye color and he had no idea how to accomplish that, Shirou humored himself. The few strands of silver looked weird on his otherwise rust-colored hair.

Shirou went to his guitar bag and started unzipping it. Opening the contents, one would be surprised to not find a guitar, instead inside the bag was filled with an array of weapons which included a sniper rifle that was folded in two, a magnum handgun that was previously his fathers, a submachine gun, grappling hooks, a few hand-sized grenades and a casing filled with bullets. The armaments held inside the guitar bag had enough weaponry if one wanted to go to war. It was almost a wonder to anyone how Shirou was able to pass through immigration without getting his luggage ransacked and arrested.

Shirou took out firstly the magnum gun and the casing filled with bullets, carefully pacing it into its designated cabinet so that it wouldn't be damaged or wither. The gun belonged to his father and was his father's most prized and powerful possession which was later passed to Shirou after his death. It was called the Thompson Contender. It was a break-open single-shot pistol meant for sport shooting. What made it the most dangerous weapon his father had was the bullets in the casing, called the Origin Bullets. The Origin Bullets when it hits a person with their magical circuits' active, rips, severe and then binds the magical circuits that it becomes almost irreparable and no longer usable to perform magecraft. It was like striking an electric circuit with hot water. The magus will forever be unable to use magecraft after being hit by one of these bullets and it was why his father was called the Magus Killer. Out of the sixty-six bullets his father originally had, he used forty, each one killing a magus and never wasted.

Shirou had never used any of the remaining twenty-six bullets, not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't have too.

Shirou procedded to take out 'his' most dangerous and most prized possession, the sniper rifle. It was a custom made DSR-XIII Precision Anti-Material Sniper Rifle outfitted with a detachable muzzle brake, bipods with adjustable scopes and infrared sight. It was a variant of the DSR-50 sniper rifle which Shirou upgraded so it could load the Origin Bullet and stand against the elements. This was Shirou's own Conceptual Weapon. And what made it dangerous wasn't just the fact that he could shoot Origin Bullets from almost up to more than a kilometer away, but because of his nifty ability.

He wasn't good with alchemy or with any of the five theoretical elements, instead he specialize in a very basic type of thaumaturgy, reinforcement and its branching skill gradation air, the ability to create objects out of pure mana. And that's why he never used his father's Origin Bullets, he created his own out of thin air then altered it so it would fit into his sniper rifle.

Ilya nicknamed his sniper rifle the 'Death-Sentence-Rifle' with the motto 'Death-Sure-is-Real', because every time Shirou made a shot, someone was bound to die.

"How many did you kill this time Onii-chan?" Ilya asked sympathetically, she knew that killing someone was a touchy subject with his brother. Her brother never wanted to become known as the 'Son of the Magus Killer', but Shirou never had a choice in the matter, there was only one way to save a person, and that was by killing another, that was what their father told them.

Shirou carefully placed the sniper rifle on another empty table, he was going to clean it up and maybe make a few adjustments.

"Three," Shirou said blankly, he didn't sound proud of it, neither was he sad. He continued inspecting the DSR-XIII making sure nothing was broken.

"Out of the five other magus that I met in Panama, I shot down three. The other two, one of them committed suicide, the other ran away after finally realizing who I was," Shirou continued, then carefully putting down the sniper rifle on the table, he went to lay down beside his sister.

"One of them was a corrupted police officer, the other one was some magus who worked with the local mafia and the last one was a teenager who studied at Atlas," Shirou said while staring at the ceiling.

It felt so easy back then to pull the trigger.

Shirou had told himself not to think too long about these things. It was bad for his health. Usually he would want to try to avoid killing anyone, regardless whether they were good or bad, but more often than not, that wasn't the option available to him when the object fought over was a wish-granting device, or what was supposed to be a wish-granting device.

And that's what made him so frustrated to no end. To go through all that, to kill and carve yourself a name among magus at such a young age that some people would run away when hearing it, to take responsibility for the mistakes of your own family, even though they were only adopted so that no evil would happen, only to reach the end and find out it was just another sham.

By now Shirou didn't care anymore, wish-granting or no wish-granting device, the only motivation he had to move on and go forward was the knowledge that for every Fake Holy Grail War he won, there was one less Holy Grail that would drive people to madness and become the very evil that Shirou wanted to prevent. The ability to make a wish was only a consolation prize to him.

For now, the only important thing was to protect the name of his family so it didn't get any worse, protect his loved ones, his sister and his cousins, and protect everyone else along the way.

That was what was keeping Shirou from breaking apart after every war. That and something else.

"You weren't able to summon her this time ehh, Onii-chan?" Ilya asked, moving closer to her brother so she now could hug him.

"No, this time the grail didn't had enough power to summon servants," Shirou replied, disappointed.

"That's too bad," Ilya said, she didn't want to sound like she pitied her brother, instead, she wanted to let him know that she was there if anything happened. The little amount of time they spend together were precious to her, for someone who was supposed to be born to become the lesser Holy Grail, the non-existence of a Holy Grail was very disheartening. She almost had no function at the Einzbern Castle other than to wait for the retrieval of the real Holy Grail, even their mother's sacrifice was almost in vain because they were never able to retrieve the artifact. Her only motivation in life was being there for her brother, so that when he did brought back the real artifact, she will be there to grant his wish.

To Ilya, Shirou was the most precious thing to her. She didn't care about the Third Magic or the Einzberns, the only thing that mattered was being there for Shirou because other than her parents, the only person Ilya cared for was him. She never understood her father's or his brother's obsession of becoming a hero of justice, but if that was what they wanted then she'll follow all the way.

Ilya's eyes seemed to weight more as she laid beside her brother, tenderly holding his head.

"Ilya, could you please let go of my head, I need to prepare to meet up with grandpa in an hour," Shirou said.

"Mmmmmm, ten minutes please…" she said crankily. Shirou didn't have the heart to pull away after seeing the sleeping face of his adorable sister hugging his own. If they were anything but siblings this would seem really awkward to Shirou since his face was literally buried in Ilya's embrace.

"Ok, then. Ten minutes," Shirou closed his eyes as well as tiredness finally overtook him.

It was really good to be back home.

* * *

><p>Jubstacheit von Einzbern reread the letter that was passed by Isolde from the Clock Tower. There was a lot in its contents to make of.<p>

First was the validity of their claim that Yggdmillennia actually had the 'real' Holy Grail and not another fake like what they have been chasing for the past two decades. Seventy percent he could personally confirm that this was the real thing, the very fact that a servant has been summoned, one that could kill forty-nine of the finest mages the Magus Association had to offer already showed that this Grail was summoning real heroes.

Secondly was the timing. Between the last Fuyuki Holy Grail War and the supposedly Great Holy Grail War that will be held in Trifas is around seventy years, that was more than enough time to replenish the Grail for it to summon heroic spirits and open a path to Akasha. And due to the fact that the leylines in Trifas were double the amount in energy than Fuyuki, instead of seven servants, there will be fourteen, with two factions against each other. He was still unsure how things will turn out, six servants is already enough to grant a wish, seven is needed to open a path to Akasha, what will be the effect of fourteen? Did that meant that the grail had accumulated enough energy to grant seven pair of masters and servants their wishes? Or was it eventually a battle to the death once the opposing faction has been defeated.

There was too much to think about, he would have to plan for the right course once things have been made clear. Regardless, there was one thing that he had to attend at the moment.

"Please call them in," Jubstacheit said to one of his servants. Who then bowed her head and went to fetch the person the Elder wanted to see.

A few minutes later, someone lightly knocked the door to his study.

"Come in, Please," he said.

Emiya Shirou entered his grandfather's study and stood at a respectable distance from him, next to him was his sister, Illyasviel von Einzbern.

"Elder Jubstacheit," Shirou addressed his head of house with his head tilted down a little in respect, Ilya followed suit with what her brother did.

"Please take a seat young Emiya, you as well Illyasviel, this will concern you as well," he spoke, his voice was almost archaic as much as it was ancient coupled with that grandfatherly voice that showed his age. There was no kindness in it, but neither was there any malevolence in it, it was blunt, stoic and straight to the point.

Shirou and Ilya took the seats opposite to their grandfather. Shirou helped Ilya into her seat then took his own. Old Man Acht as he was more commonly known among the younger members of the Einzbern household waved his hand to a servant to bring in tea for the two. They accepted it gratefully.

"I have read your report that you had sent earlier pertaining the previous Grail War that you attended last week, the events were most unfortunate," Old Man Acht said.

"My apologies, I will remember to double check our sources the next time we venture for the Grail," Shirou apologized.

"Aye, but that wasn't the point that I have summoned you here, Emiya Shirou," Jubstacheit continued. Shirou eyed his grandfather, wondering what did he wanted to tell him.

Shirou went on to take a sip of the German-made tea out of respect.

"We have receive news from the Clock Tower of the appearance of another Holy Grail, this time in Trifas, Romania, our own sources confirmed it" Elder Jubstacheit said, going straight to the point. Shirou paused for a while with the cup of tea still in his mouth, thinking over what his grandfather said, then sipped a little more before placing the cup back onto the table.

"When do I leave?" Shirou asked with a determined look, his voice changed to one of seriousness and his golden eyes looked straight at the Elder, awaiting orders.

"Onii-chan!" Ilya said in disbelief. She looked back at her grandfather, then tilted her head out of respect.

"Forgive me for being out of line Elder, but Shirou had just arrived home, it would be no good to send him back into another Grail War, let alone if this is the real artifact when he is still weak and weary from the previous one, please allow him to rest first, Elder," Ilya requested.

"Ilya," Shirou remarked at her brash request. He appreciated her going out of line to allow him to recuperate first but if there was a war that was going to happen then he would have to just find another time to rest. People's lives were on the line whenever a Grail War happened and it was important he made haste.

"My apologies Elder, as you were saying," Shirou said. Junstacheit looked at the sibling banter, wondering whether to make heads or tails of it, he never voiced it out.

"In order for this one to accumulate enough energy to summon the required number of servants, the Holy Grail War in Trifas, or the Great Holy Grail War as the Magus Association now called it will commence in four months' time," the Elder said.

"four months?" Shirou said bewildered. That was a surprise. Usually he would only had time to prepare in a week or two before a Grail War started and then be dispatched immediately. For them to have so much time before entering a Grail War meant that the other masters must have already been chosen, maybe even a servant have been summoned already and is waiting for the others to be summoned as well.

Ilya showed relief at this fact.

"The Grail in Trifas has already summoned one servant who had slain a group of magi that were dispatched from the Clock Tower," Jubstacheit said.

"A servant has already been summoned?" Shirou looked puzzled. The fact that somebody was able to pierce the Throne of Heroes and summon a Heroic Spirit gave enough merit for Shirou to take action, regardless whether it was fake or not.

"Yes, and it was unlike any that we have previously encountered, it killed forty-nine magus in the span of twenty seconds," the Elder said. Shirou was petrified by the information. Sure servants were strong, but most of the servants summoned by fake Grails had handicaps in their summoning, it was either some problem in the anchoring, the command spells, the acquiring of Noble Phantasms and such, so they were weaker unless one had a real hero summoned, to be able to kill forty-nine magus in such a short time, that was beyond comprehension. Again, Shirou thought, the lives of those people wouldn't have been sacrificed if they had found the Grail earlier.

"It is our belief that this is the original Holy Grail that we have been searching for so long and it is now currently in the hands of Yggdmillennia," Jubstacheit said.

Now that was a common name in Clock Tower politics. It wasn't a family of lords or elites, instead it was a family that adopted weaker families and eventually specializing in many branches instead of a single thaumaturgy school of thought, they currently posed the biggest faction of concentration of magus in Central Europe, maybe intending to rival the Clock Tower. Shirou had never encountered anyone from Yggdmillennia before.

"Yggdmillennia were in league with the Nazis back during the third Holy Grail War, our records also showed that a member from their family was a participant," the Elder spoke. Shirou nodded at the information, Yggdmillennia must have been preparing in secret while the Einzberns were on a scavenger hunt around the world finding their missing relic.

"In this war, fourteen servants will be summoned," he continued. Shirou and Ilya looked bewildered. Fourteen?! Why were there so many? One was already troublesome, but having to fight another thirteen to be able to win, that was monstrosity, how was anyone going to get organized and make sense in such chaos. Shirou could already imagine the scale of destruction that would happen from a battle royal from fourteen of the strongest beings humanity had to offer.

Elder Jubstacheit eyed Shirou at his disbelief at the number of servants that were going to be summoned.

"That is why this war will be different than the ones you have fought in. In this war there will be two factions, each faction will be able to summon a servant from each class and then work together to obtain the Grail," The Elder spoke.

"Work together? Two factions? I'm sorry Elder, I didn't catch you on that one," Shirou said puzzled.

"During the beginning of the creation of the Holy Grail War, the Makiris placed a safeguard on the Holy Grail in case five or more masters decided to band together, this safeguard was meant to summon an additional seven servants to make sure that both sides can obtain the Grail on equal footing. Clock Tower has contacted us because we were the most versed and experienced in the Holy Grail Wars. They want to create a coalition between us and the other two founding families, the Makiris and the Tohsakas along with a master from the Church in order to take down Yggdmillennia before the Third Magic becomes there's. In request for our resources and experience, they have allowed us to send two masters and take back the Grail to German once the Heaven's Feel has been reached," Elder Jubstacheit explained.

"Two masters from the Einzberns? Resources, I understand, but we have no one else capable with such level of warfare except myself," Shirou said.

"That is why I have called for young Illyasviel," he said pointing to the small homunculus.

"Illyasviel was born to become a Lesser Grail and realize the Heaven's feel in the event you were able to bring back the Grail, it is only fitting that she accompanies you both as support and a fellow master," the Elder spoke.

"I can follow Onii-chan?" Ilya said happily.

"This will be one of the Einzberns biggest ventures as of yet, young Emiya. All of our members will return in order to create the strongest army of homunculi we could muster to march on Trifas. We will be staking everything on this and we will finally realize the Heaven's Feel," Old Man Acht declared.

"I know that you have many questions Emiya, as well as you Illyasviel as per the details of the Holy Grail War. The answers will come as time progresses. In the meantime, I advise so that both of you to be prepared for when the time comes for you two to play your respective roles," Jubstacheit von Einzbern said.

"Yes Elder," the two children of the Magus Killer spoke in unison.

"Then you may be dismissed," he finally said, finally ending their meeting.

As the duo walked back to their respective rooms to think things over, Shirou's mind was still contemplating with what his grandfather said earlier. The fact that Ilya would be following him in this upcoming Holy Grail War, with not just seven servants but with fourteen servants, plus the whole house will be putting their best efforts into making sure they won this time.

What will happen once Yggdmillennia is defeated? Will they have to fight against the other pairs of their comrades in order to claim the Grail? Surely everyone else wanted their wish to be granted as well else they wouldn't have entered in the first place? Or was this Grail so powerful that it could grant each master their desired wish?

There were too many questions and variables that didn't bode well with the young Emiya.

"Onii-chan, stop being so moody, we're finally going to be able to obtain the Heaven's Feel!" Ilya said cheerfully. She was apparently excited that she can finally follow his brother in one of his hunts.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about some stuff," Shirou said.

"We'll be working together Ilya, I'll need you to watch my back during the war," Shirou remarked, giving a smile to his sister.

"Don't worry Onii-chan, I'll protect you," she announced and then continued to skip happily along the castle's hallway.

Shirou followed behind, putting aside his previous worries. There will be another time to think on these things, for now he needed to prepare for what was about to come.

Without him realizing it, a white-silver mark was forming on the back of his left hand.


	3. Three Months Ago

**Three Months Ago, Fuyuki City, Japan.**

Tohsaka Rin climbed up the staircase of Homurahara Academy, heading for the rooftop of the school. In all honesty, she shouldn't actually be going to the rooftop, students were prohibited from coming there, and with her reputation as a model student, the very last thing she would have wanted was to be caught.

However, Tohsaka Rin was a trained magus, thought from birth by her father until he passed away, there was more than one way to make sure one wouldn't get caught. At the beginning, when she first came to school she erected a bounded field around the entrance to the rooftop, warding anyone who wasn't a magus. Anyone who saw her going up will forget as if it never happened while anyone who wanted to come up will simply turn the other way.

As she ascended the stairs, she caught a glimpse of the white-silver markings on the back of her left hand. It looked like a double crescent moon with a single teardrop-like sword that pierced straight through the middle.

She gave herself a smile at the sight of it. It meant that she was chosen to participate in something great and she had to tell one of her closest friend about it. The markings, or Command Seals as they were called, already started forming a month ago after she got news from the Clock Tower, only this morning was it as clear as the Command Seals she read in her text book, and that meant that in three months, she will be participating in a grand ritual that her ancestors have been in, the Holy Grail War.

The Tohsakas were part of the three families that started the Holy Grail Wars along with the Einzberns and the Matous. The Tohsakas didn't have the same access to the Heaven's Feel like the Einzberns did, or extensive knowledge on the Throne of Heroes like the Matous, but what they did had was resources and land, spiritual land to enact a ritual such as the Holy Grail Wars, to be more precise Fuyuki City.

They are and have been the Second Owners of the Fuyuki leylines since the past ten generations and Rin along with her mother, Aoi Tohsaka were now the current land owners of Fuyuki. If anyone wanted to perform magecraft in Fuyuki, they had to ask permission from them. They had the backing of both the Church and the Magus Association in order to make sure all would comply.

By allowing the Einzberns and the Matous to form the Holy Grail Wars using their leylines, they essentially became fixed participants in the Heaven's Feel ritual ever since, that is, until seventy years ago, during the Third Holy Grail War.

During the Third Heaven's Feel, the Nazis intervened and plundered Mount Enzou, stealing the Greater Grail that laid beneath it. This prematurely ended the Holy Grail Wars in Fuyuki. The Tohsakas along with their allies, the Matous, gave up with trying to reenact the Heaven's Feel ritual after having lost so much from the Nazi's attack on their lands.

Those bastards, she thought. Those guys could never comprehend how much her family had to sacrifice for this ritual.

They eventually had to 'move on'.

That is, until she got the news from Clock Tower last month ago.

She was contacted by her sponsor, Lord El-Melloi II, who offered her the chance to fight in the Holy Grail Wars, the 'real' Holy Grail War, not some fake Holy Grail that she kept hearing about, which was held in Trifas.

There was no way she could refuse.

Her father was already denied the chance to fight in the Holy Grail Wars, so it was up to her to bring back the name of the Tohsakas and claim the Holy Grail. There was no better crowning achievement that she could accomplish before finally entering into the halls of the Clock Tower to further her studies.

She was told that this Holy Grail War would be different than the ones that were previously held in Fuyuki. There will be fourteen Heroic Spirits that would be summoned. Instead of an all-out battle royal, the fourteen servants will be divided into two factions, each faction having seven of the original servants to win the Holy Grail War.

The war was totally different than what her ancestors fought in, though she didn't like the idea that she had to share her win with other masters, this form of warfare did meant that battles will now be more precise and strategic, servants that usually had handicaps such as the Caster or Assassin servant classes will now be able to be used to their fullest potential, and it also meant that regardless whichever servant they summoned, it didn't mean they would lose out entirely, though she had to admit without a doubt that because she was the most gifted and strongest of the masters, she will eventually be summoning the strongest of servants and become the overall reason of her factions win.

She was an Average One. And who in the world could compare against that? Even her closest friend couldn't compare to her in terms of magecraft.

Which reminded her of another added benefit of this war. She won't be going alone, a close friend of hers will be accompanying her as well and she was confident that they'll be able to handle anything that came their way.

Opening the door that headed to the rooftop, Rin saw the person she wanted to meet up here and show her Command Seals.

Sitting with his back leaned against that fence of the rooftop, a young boy wearing the Homurahara standard uniform took a sip from the beverage he just bought.

The boy had an innocent look that indicated he was as old as Rin. He had golden eyes and white hair that was combed backwards, causing it to stick out. Rin had no idea what he used to make his hairstyle like that. He wore a golden cross around his neck which he kept in his uniform jacket during classes, since bringing such objects was prohibited.

"Shiro!" Rin called the boy, heading to where he sat.

"Tohsaka-san," the boy looked up as his name was called. He had a beautiful innocent smile that made Rin's heart flapped just from staring.

"Geez, why are you still calling me that? I thought I asked you to call me by my first name already Shiro, we've already known each other for more than ten years," she said.

"Sorry, Tohsaka….I mean Rin. You know me and honorifics and all the Church's protocols and stuff. It's already become a habit," the boy made an innocent apology, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, I guess I can overlook that, since you did have to wait for me here," Rin smiled back. She took a seat besides Shiro and opened her own lunchbox.

The boy's full name was Kotomine Shiro, and like Rin, he was also a fellow magus, and one of the few that lived in Fuyuki. After the Third Holy Grail War, his father, Kotomine Risei, who was the representative from the Church and also the supervisor for the war, stayed back in Fuyuki, eventually forming close ties with the Tohsakas, since they were the Second Owners of the land.

Shiro literally grew up with Rin, they knew each other since they were eight, though Shiro usually went to Italy to train as an Executor and a member of the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament. When his father died when Shiro was twelve due to old age illness, Shiro often stopped by the Tohsaka mansion, firstly because Rin's mother, Aoi didn't like the idea that someone so young was living all by himself, afterwards Shiro just came by often and even knew Rin's father before his death, even being the person who organized his burial in the Fuyuki cemetery.

He and Rin eventually became close friends because there was nobody else that the other could talk to about their secret double life, Shiro and his work with the Church and Rin with her apprenticeship as the Tohsaka heiress.

"I got your call this morning. So the Command Seals finally formed?" Shiro asked excitedly.

Rin smiled at this, then showed the back of her left hand. Three Command Seals that proved she was going to become a participating master in the upcoming Great Holy Grail War. Shiro looked at the Command Seals with awe.

"And you? Have yours fully formed yet?" Rin asked.

Shiro pulled back the left sleeve of his uniform and showed Rin the back of his hand. There engraved on the back of his left hand were three similar white-silver tattoos that meant that he was also a master in the upcoming Great Holy Grail War. They were different than Rin's though. The pattern still resembled somewhat of a sword or pointed arrow, but it was more chaotic with clawed like markings instead of hers more round and tranquil shape.

"You should try to hide that Rin, you wouldn't want someone noticing it," Shiro pointed out at Rin's Command Seals as he brought back down his sleeve and hiding his own Command Seals.

"I'll remember to do that once I'm back home, in the meantime, I'll just try and cover it up and hope nobody notices," Rin said while taking a bite from her food.

They continued eating until finally Shiro broke the silence.

"It's finally coming closer ehh? I'm betting you're going to be extremely excited," Shiro said casually.

"Of course I am! My ancestors have been fighting in this war, and to know that I'll be able to participate in it whereas my father wasn't able to, there's no better privilege," Rin declared.

"So I'm assuming that this is it? You won't be backing down no matter what?" Shiro asked again.

Rin almost felt like she wanted smack Shiro for asking such a stupid question. Of course she's not backing down. This was a chance in a lifetime to prove her worth. However she stopped midway when she saw the serious worried work Shiro had as he gazed at the horizon.

She knew that look. Shiro was worried, really worried.

"Hey, what's up with you Shiro? Shouldn't you be excited too about being able to enter the Holy Grail Wars? Fighting alongside the best of people that mankind has to offer, maybe even get a promotion by the Church and you could even get any wish you want granted," Rin said trying to comfort him.

"Huh," Shiro sighted.

"Don't get me wrong Rin, I am excited to fight in the Holy Grail Wars, I might even say that I'm more prepared for it than you are, no offense. It's you that I'm worried about Rin, are you sure that you want to come along? They say that this Holy Grail War is unlike any that had ever happened, this will be the single biggest event in the whole world where there will be so many Heroic Spirits in one place at a single time. Even Alaya wouldn't summon more than seven Counter Guardians," He said.

"You could just summon your servant and leave everything to me. You don't need to come all the way to Trifas and fight and risk your life. If anything happened to you, what am I supposed to say to Aoi? Maybe it would be best if you-" Shiro's words were interrupted when he was smacked at the head by Rin.

*Whack*

"Ouch, what was that for?!" Shiro bellowed, holding onto his head.

"You idiot! Didn't you hear me earlier? My father was already denied the chance to compete in it, what makes you think that I am going to give it up as well?! Because it's more dangerous than previous Holy Grail Wars?! Well wouldn't it just be harder to win if there were fewer mages on our side? Since when in the world did it stated that by having less people fight we would have a better chance to win?!" Rin shouted back, petrifying Shiro on the spot.

He was completely speechless.

"And besides, who do you think among the two of us is the better magus? The only thing that you could do are those Holy Sacraments. What are you supposed to do when you're confronted with a problem concerning magecraft, do you expect the other masters to help you out? Or are you also going to ask them to go home as well and leave everything to you?" Rin said.

"Sorry, sorry Rin, I was just worried that's all," he replied.

"Well worrying wouldn't help you win would it? You need friends and teammates and all the advantages you could get," Rin said.

"Ok, ok, you've got a point," Shiro said defeated.

"But you have to promise me you wouldn't do anything reckless or brash while we're at Trifas. I know that you're good, but I'm the one who's trained in combat and is experienced in taking out other mages, this is my territory, so let me handle most of it, ok?" he said.

"Still not giving up ehh? And what do you mean by brash and reckless? I'm a Tohsaka mage for your information! Our family motto is to be in control and elegant, it's not like the plans that I will be making will be any crazier like yours," She said.

"Well then, I guess it's settle then, we'll be teaming up for the duration of the war. I'll be in your care Rin," Shiro said while smiling and bowing his head.

Rin's face turned a shade redder at Shiro's declaration.

"Yeah, yeah, I will be in your care as well, just make sure you don't do anything stupid while we're there," Rin said, coming over her previous trance.

They finished their meals and then started heading back to their respective classroom for the next session of school.

"I'll come by your house later this evening and bring over the dossier's of the other masters the Mage's Association have sent me, we could go over them together," Shiro said.

"Yeah, I can't wait to get started," Rin said happily.

She smiled happily all the way back to her class. She was finally going to participate in the Holy Grail War and one of her best friends, Kotomine Shiro will be there to help her win it.

* * *

><p>In the snowy hilltops of Germany, within the Castle that stood atop a hill, the Einzberns were also busy preparing for the upcoming Great Holy Grail War.<p>

All day and night, mages were in underground factories, building an army of homunculi that would rival and even surpass the ones made by Yggdmillennia. They were outfitted with the strongest Conceptual Weapons the Einzberns could obtain, to the point that they may be able to even bring down a servant. The homunculi are constantly upgraded so that they could go through any obstacle. Their Elder wanted their Homunculi that were sent to be perfect.

Elder Jubstacheit had already sent a team ahead to Sighishora, the closest city to Trifas that was outside of Yggdmillenia's influence, to build a castle for Shirou and Ilya to stay in during the duration of the war. It would also be housing the homunculus that would be brought there for the battle.

Meanwhile, inside the workshops, other mages were trying to formulate and research on new ways to perform alchemy and their wish-craft sorcery. This in turn will then be taught to Ilya so that she could use it and become more proficient in magecraft. Shirou would have been taught about it, but he lacked the affinity to perform any of the higher-tier magecraft the Einzberns had, he could only perform the basics of alchemy, bounded fields and material transmutation, so Shirou couldn't be that much involved in most of the research.

He didn't have to.

He's been prepared for five years now ever since his father died, inheriting the Emiya Magical Crest and also the mantle of Magus Killer. He was actually glad that the family put a lot of focus on making sure that Ilya went in as prepared as she could ever be. Yes, she didn't like all the hard training and studying, sometimes whining about it and going into a tantrum, but hopefully it will pay off when whatever she learnt saves her life in the future.

She was truly a magnificent mage.

Shirou once saw her change the shape of her familiars in mid-flight from a bird into a sword then surging forward like a bullet, create solid objects out of air and even heal wounds at an alarmingly fast degree.

All of this though, didn't mean that Shirou could just lay back while his family members were busy working. If anything he was more than wanting to play his part in getting back the Third Magic, it was just that, his methods were more unconventional and unorthodox for mages.

This included daily training of his body and his skills, sometimes going out and jogging in the freezing cold outside and hunting any wild game so his skills wouldn't diminish. His family members didn't have to do any of these mundane things to keep in shape, they were mages; they could just will it. Then there was his way of getting information. While everyone else was still wondering how to use a fax machine or finally realizing that such a device even existed, Shirou already had a laptop. Getting internet was a pain in the back while he was at home. He had to beg on all fours to his Grandfather to erect a satellite at the observatory because he wanted to get connectivity.

Emiya Shirou was now in his study and printing out the dossiers of the other masters that will be participating in the upcoming Holy Grail Wars sent by the Magus Association.

"What are you looking at Onii-chan?" Ilya asked. She was now taking a break from her studies, spending time in her brother's room. She peered at the monitor of his laptop as Shirou scrolled through the dossiers. Shirou pressed the print button so that they could get a better look.

"It's the profiles of each of the masters that we will be working with for the Holy Grail War,"Shirou said.

"Uhhhh," Ilya's interest peaked up. She walked towards the printer and waited for all of the materials to be finished printing before taking it to her brother and pulling a chair and sitting next to him so they could read it together.

Currently there were six masters that have been chosen. Ilya recognized the names of the other families that were involved in the creation of the Holy Grail Wars, the Tohsakas and the Matous.

She gave the dossiers to her brother, who briefly scanned through it before reading it out aloud.

* * *

><p>"Illyasviel Von Einzbern," Kotomine Shiro said aloud from a similar sheet of paper so Rin could hear him. The duo were in Rin's workshop which was in the basement of her house.<p>

The workshop previously belonged to her father. The room was lit by dozens of candles through magecraft. There were numerous spell books that filled the shelves. A single altar was pushed to the side and a table was in the middle where they also sat around with a box full of files that contained the dossiers of the other masters in their faction and any other information that might be useful for the war that were sent and collected by their informants in the Magus Association. There were an assortment of magical instruments and flask that Shiro didn't want to know what it contained.

The first time Kotomine Shiro was in here, he and Rin sneaked into it so that they could read the more complex and advance spell books. The result was that the spell book came to life and tried pulling Rin into Jesus-knew-where, it was the timely arrival of Rin's father that they escaped without a scratch.

Now Rin inherited her father's workshop and everything within it. The first thing they agreed to do was to seal that crazy spell book.

"An heiress and also one of the Einzbern's Homunculus that was specifically designed to become the ultimate master in the Holy Grail Wars," Shiro continued.

"She has the elemental affinity of Ether. Her abilities include the thirtieth degree of Alchemy, Spiritual Evocation and Invocation, Material Transmutation, erection of Bounded Fields and the basics in all five of the Elemental Magecrafts, coupled that with the Einzbern's wish-craft sorcery trait"

"Hmmmphhh," Rin huffed in annoyance. Using a homunculus was like cheating since a homunculus can be programmed beforehand to know the exact spells and skills needed for their intended purpose. Though Rin's own skills is comparable to the homunculus, the fact that she had the added bonus of having a sorcery trait that allowed her to perform any magecraft simply by just wishing it was just overpowered.

As Rin looked at the picture of the person in question, she still had a hard time believing that such a small figure had so much raw potential. The girl couldn't be more than twelve years old judging by her look, or she could even be only two to three years old for all she knew since Rin knew that homunculus matured faster than humans.

"She'll be the one in charge of the creation, production and supply of the Einzbern Homunculi army while we're in Trifas," Shiro said.

The battle between them and Yggdmillennia would be on a scale that makes their own Fuyuki Holy Grail War like small fry. This wasn't just a battle between individuals, this was a battle between families and to an extent rivalling factions of Associations, if that was what you wanted to call Yggdmillennia as. The battle won't just be between masters and servants, anything that they could throw, homunculus, puppets, golems, familiars, summoned monsters, everything and anything they could use to give them an edge will be used and is desperately needed to win.

It was said that Yggdmillennia themselves were going to have their own army of Homunculi. Whether it can rival the Einzberns will be known in the future.

Kotomine Shiro turned the paper and continued reading the contents of the dossiers.

"Next is from the Matous. Hey look Rin, Sakura will be joining us," Shiro pointed.

"What?!" Rin said, surprised at what she was told.

"Sakura's coming as well?!" Rin asked again, not believing.

"Yeah, look. It seems that her grandfather, Zoken Matou, requested to send her and act as one of the masters," Shiro said.

"No…but I thought….." Rin said to herself nervously.

"What's wrong Rin?" Shiro asked. Rin quickly dropped her worried expression and looked back towards Shiro, hiding her previous worry with a smile.

"Ahhh, Don't worry Shiro, it wasn't anything. I just didn't thought the Matous had an heir after all this while," She said. Shiro eyed Rin, not believing entirely what she said.

* * *

><p>Emiya Shirou stared at the picture of the beautiful young girl with violet hair and similarly colored eyes. Her hair was styled with a pink ribbon on her left side. In the picture she didn't smile and had a solemn look. The Matou heiress looked so beautiful yet tragic at the same time. As if something had happened to the person in the photo for her to appear as so, because in all of Shirou's life, he never heard anyone having purple eyes and similar colored-hair naturally.<p>

If only there was something he could have done to help ease that pain. Maybe if his circumstances were different and he never met his father, he would have grew up in Japan and maybe would have met the girl, helping her in her plight whatever it may be. Who knows, they could have been good friends.

He wished there was a way he could make everyone happy. If he had to admit that he had wish that would be it, to become a 'Hero of Justice' and make sure nobody had to cry again, similarly like his father's wish, but he knew that it may be impossible to achieve, even with a miracle. The only thing he can do right now is save as many people as he can.

"What are you staring at for so long Onii-chan?" Ilya interrupted his thoughts.

"Huhu," Ilya caught her brother staring at the picture of the young beautiful Matou heiress, giving him a mischievous look.

"I never thought Onii-chan was already thinking of such things," Ilya said.

"What?! What do you mean Ilya?" Shirou said, pleading innocence.

"Don't try to hide it Onii-chan, I'm your little sister after all, there's nothing you can hide from me. I understand that you are already becoming an adult, and at some point you feel a need to find companions and lay down," Ilya continued.

"What are you talking about Ilya?" Shirou asked dumbfounded.

"Well she does seem 'bountiful' for her age don't you think? Huhu, but remember, if you want to have the hand of anyone Onii-chan they firstly have to go through me. Your little sister will make sure whoever becomes your life long companion will have to be able to provide you will all the necessities you require. And I mean all the necessities," she said mischievously.

Bountiful for her age? Have the hand of anyone? Life-long companion? Shirou was trying to figure out what the hell his little sister was eluding him to. And what did she meant by 'all necessities'?

That's when it clicked to him.

His face suddenly turned redder at the realization.

"For heaven's sake, Ilya! It's not like that!" Shirou said defensively.

"Huhu, you may say that now Onii-chan, but watch yourself when we meet up in Trifas, they will be trying to put spells on you and win you over. Fortunately, your little sister will be there to ward them off if they don't meet up to my standards," she declared happily.

"Ilya, now is not the time to be thinking about those things. We're going to war!" Shirou said.

"Just forget about any of that and focus on the task at hand," Shirou said, trying to quickly change the subject.

"Huhu, ok. But remember, little sister is watching," she said mischievously, eyeing her brother.

Shirou ignored his little sister's attempt at controlling his love life and instead continued on with the dossiers.

"Matou Sakura. There isn't much about her. The only abilities stated that she has is the Matous magecraft of 'absorption' and some of the basic spells and that she has some kind of Sorcery Trait, everything else is left undisclosed by the family. On paper her skills are almost like mine," Shirou said casually.

Ilya quickly eyed her brother at this remark, then made a wide mischievous grin.

"Not that it means anything," Shirou added before Ilya finally dropped her façade.

"But it seems strange," Shirou remarked.

"Why so?" Ilya asked.

"Well, because the Matous have been known to not have that many heirs and children that can perform magecraft. So where did she came from? And if it's so hard for the Matous to get an heir, then why waste it in fighting in the war when she herself doesn't seem that capable?" Shirou thought out loud.

"Who knows, maybe the Matous are just greedy. None of their actions made much sense. Weren't they the ones who implanted this precautionary step on the Grail? Being able to summon fourteen servants was their idea, I wouldn't be surprised if they knew more about the Grail than what we realize," Ilya commented.

"Yeah, maybe so," Shirou agreed.

"Moving on. Next we have Rin Tohsaka"

"Ohh, another beauty! And with blue eyes too!" Ilya remarked. Shirou just tried to ignore whatever she said. Anything that he added will only be used to fuel the fire his sister was trying to create.

The girl had long and wavy black hair, which was styled into twin-tails tied with matching black ribbons. In Ilya's words, she wasn't as bountiful as the Matou heiress, but her figure was like that of a model.

"Second Owner of the Spiritual Lands of Fuyuki and current heiress to the Tohsakas. She is an Average One. Compatible with all five forms of Magecraft. Bounded Fields, Spiritual Evocation and Invocation, along with the less commonly known Formalcraft and Witchcraft. Her specialty is in the Flowing and Transferring of Power and Energy specifically in Jewel Magecraft. It's even stated here that her family has knowledge concerning the Second Magic. She seems almost as good as you are Ilya," Shirou commented.

"Almost. Some normal girl could never reach my level," Ilya announced proudly.

"She studies in the Clock Tower during the summer breaks and is sponsored by the El-Melloi faction," Shirou continued.

Whoever this Tohsaka Rin was, she was the real deal. The very definition of a first-rate magus. She had the lineage, an elemental affinity that would have Lords cry over, owns a Spiritual Land and has ties with both the Church and the Magus Association. The only problem may be the fact that she was from Japan, which many people from the Magus Association looked down upon, though this didn't seem to deter her the least in her studies.

Personally, Shirou was just glad that there were other people who seemed like they could actually hold their own in a fight. Thou, whether the Tohsaka Heiress 'can' fight and prove useful during the Holy Grail War has yet to be seen.

Based on his own personal experience, most magus who focus on researching and studying magecraft couldn't hold themselves in a real fight. He'd met people who could bend the elements based on their will, create storms and enact miracles that seemed almost impossible to the normal layman, yet when in a real battle, mind you, real battles are not always 'fair' battles, they tend to do some of the most illogical and irrational things any sane man would do, and some of them don't even know how to fight sometimes.

It was a combination of what he thought was a backward traditionally-bounded mindset, overconfidence and underestimating ones opponent.

Only time will tell whether Tohsaka Rin fitted that bill or not.

* * *

><p>"The Magus Association will be sending Bazett Fraga McRemitz, a first class Enforcer," Kotomine Shiro continued reading.<p>

He sifted through the dossier, satisfied at the overall information he received about the Enforcer.

"You know her?" Rin asked.

"Not personally. We've worked in a few hunts before. I know at least that she's good, and I mean really good," Shiro said.

"How good?" Rin said worriedly.

"The type that might be able to take-out-servants-if-she-was-lucky good," Shiro said.

"She can take down servants?!" Rin said, not believing it.

"Her family members, the Fraga, have a Sorcery Trait called God Holders, also known as Tradition Carriers. It allows them to use the Noble Phantasm Fragarach," Shirou said casually.

"She has a Noble Phantasm?!" Rin still doubting Shirou's words.

"I don't know the conditions or how it is used, but I heard she can one-shot anyone with it," Shiro said.

"No way," Rin said.

"Other than that, she's not that good as a magus only specializing in runecraft, but with great efficiency. But so far, other than me, she has the most experience in direct combat, maybe even the strongest master in terms of combat in the whole war," Shiro said.

"Well, it's a good thing she's on our side," Rin remarked. Shiro nodded at this. He didn't want to spend his time fighting against her.

"Now onto the last master in our group," Shiro picked up the last file from the box.

"His name is…."

* * *

><p>Emiya Shirou gazed long and hard at the thin piece of paper that held the last dossier of the last member of their group. It was a member from the Church. And although that was a surprise by itself, since members of the Church aren't encourage to practice magecraft, sometimes even frowned upon, what really caught his attention and put him in a baffled state was the person's name.<p>

Kotomine Shiro.

….

….

….

It took Shirou a few seconds to process the sheer ridiculousness of the fact. How much of a coincidence was it that he had the same given name with another fellow master? The probability of it ever happening was beyond comprehension.

"Uhhh, Onii-chan, this guy got the same name as yours!" Ilya stated the obvious.

Shirou knew that the given name 'Shirou' may be a common name in Japan, but what was the probability that both were magus, were both fighting in the Holy Grail War AND were both on the same faction?

He didn't know if he should be relieved that he wouldn't have to put a bullet in someone that had the same name as himself or not. It would feel kind of odd, like he was killing himself. The only comfort he had was that both names may 'sound' the same, but they were 'written' differently in Japanese as he double checked.

Of course when it was translated into English, the spelling became the same and that was what got Emiya Shirou completely taken back at first.

"Onii-chan! This person stole your name!" Ilya pouted after glancing over the dossier.

Shirou gave a light chuckle.

"Well you couldn't blame him, 'Shirou' is a great name to have, anyone would want their child to have it," Shirou said, with a hint of pride.

Ilya wasn't satisfied by the answer she got, it felt like to her, that someone had just stolen her brothers identity. She gazed hard at the photo of the person. He had an innocent smile coupled with white hair that was combed backwards so it stood out.

Shirou continued to read through the printed profile.

"Kotomine Shiro," he said. It sounded weird when he said it.

"Age seventeen going to eighteen, son of Kotomine Risei, the supervisor and mediator dispatched from the Church during the Third Fuyuki Holy Grail War. A member of the Executors and the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament. Knows all of the forms of the Holy Sacraments including the Counter Magic employed by the Order of the Templars. Studied under the Tohsakas in basic magecraft theory. The five basic elemental theories of magecraft, spiritual Evocation and Invocation…..yada yada yada…" Shirou continued, jumping through some of the things that didn't interested him.

Then finally something caught his attention.

"What is it Onii-chan?" Ilya asked curiously. It was rare that her brother showed so much interest in another person. He didn't even showed this kind of interest towards the targets that he was ordered to neutralized, since that would hamper his ability to kill them.

Emiya Shirou was reading the profile of Kotomine Shiro, and what caught his attention the most wasn't his skill or the fact that they shared the first name, but what caught the young Emiya's interest was his counterpart's accumulative combat experience.

* * *

><p>"He went to how many Fake Holy Grail Wars?!" Rin bellowed. The thought that someone had almost the exact same name as her best friend was almost a sheer coincidence that even made her cringe, but after going through the person's profile, Rin couldn't believe that such a person with so little skills can do so much.<p>

And the guy's her age for heaven's sake!

"Seven in total, the most recent one was about two months ago. Out of the thirteen False Holy Grail Wars the Einzberns entered, he participated in seven of them, the other six his father entered before he died," Kotomine Shiro stated again. He was as baffled as Rin was. Which was one of the reasons why he complied to Rin when she asked him to repeat again what he just read of. His eyes could be tricking him for all he knew.

"In three of those wars, it was said that he was able to summon a Saber class servant, the identity of the servant is not known," Shiro continued.

"And he won in all of them?" Rin asked.

"When you mean 'won' as in 'the last guy left standing', then yes, he won in all of them," Shiro said.

Who the hell was this guy?

Emiya Shirou.

Also known by the alias of 'Faker' in the freelance business, since he specialized in gradation air and reinforcement magecraft, two forms of magecraft that from Kotomine Shiro's point of view, couldn't be that useful even if he wanted it to.

Was there something more to the alias 'Faker' than what he thought of?

"Tearing and Dismantlement of Bounded Fields, the basics of Material Transmutation, inherited the Emiya Crest. His skills includes sharpshooting, hand-to-hand combat, western-style swordsmanship, and also is a natural athlete," Shiro kept on reading.

Seriously, the skill sets and abilities of this impersonator did nothing to help him show that he actually earned the name similar to Kotomine Shiro's.

What was really glaring was his track record. His overall experience and his history.

* * *

><p>"This doesn't make any sense," Emiya Shirou finally spoke.<p>

"Why not?" Ilya asked.

"Because it's all over the place," Shirou said, annoyed with Kotomine Shiro's profile and track record.

"He first became an Executor trainee at Shura's Den, then right before graduating he changed so that he instead worked with the Templars and learned their ways of purging magecraft, then he applied to be part of the elite Swiss Guard and be stationed in the Vatican, he got an offer to become a part of the Burial Agency but eventually turned it down, then finally settled as an Executor in the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament," Shirou said.

"So what? He didn't like what he was doing. So he changed jobs," Ilya concluded.

"No, no. You don't get it Ilya, Church members don't change jobs. Each member of the Church eventually becomes content with their role and believes that that is their 'calling' unless their superiors says otherwise, they only move within their given role, and the records even showed that he did well in each job," Shirou explained and pointed out.

But that wasn't the case with this person, that's what Emiya Shirou thought. It wasn't just a simple, 'I don't like my job' or 'I wanted to try out new things', there was something going through the mind of Kotomine Shiro when he transferred from one job to the other, as if he was searching for something. And then he finally settled in as an Executor in the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament. What was in there that halted his haphazard job-changing pursuit?

And then there was the whole confusion regarding his profile.

Not only was there a serious lack of information regarding him and what he actually did, but some of the things didn't seem consistent.

The first thing that Shirou found baffling was his age. If Kotomine Shiro was the supposedly son of Kotomine Risei, then Risei had to be at least eighty years old when he had him, which didn't seem possible nor practical for someone his age to have children. Maybe Shirou could give the benefit of the doubt and say that Risei 'adopted' and raised young Kotomine out of kindness, ignoring the fact that he was already old enough to be able to take care of anyone else, but then what about the baffling track record the young Kotomine had?

He had to be at least thirteen when he exorcised his first Demon. Does the Church even allow kids to do that at such a young age?

* * *

><p>Kotomine Shiro continued to scan through the Faker's track record. His eyes darted quickly from one line to the other.<p>

When the Magus Killer was alive, Faker would sometimes follow him in the many freelance missions and False Holy Grail Wars they were dispatched to. Whether Faker had his first kill during these times were unknown, but his first official kill was when he was fourteen, two years after his father's death.

And the jobs didn't stop there, he continued to kill one after the other, until finally he made a name out of himself. That added to the fact the he participated in one Holy Grail War to the other, with the conclusion of each war a fake.

What were the Einzberns doing to him? What was his father teaching him that he could go through all that without breaking?

How could a mere child go through all that and yet still have the will to continue on?

Could someone, anyone for that matter, sacrifice and kill so much and yet still have the strength to continue on their quest?

"This guy seems like a monster," Rin commented, she looked disturbed after reading the profile of Emiya Shirou.

"Twenty one hits in the span of three years, and that didn't include the collateral damage. What in the world is up with this guy?" Rin asked rhetorically.

Kotomine Shiro thought the same thing.

What in the world was the matter with this guy?

What could push him to go so far at such a young age and yet not break?

Was he like him?

* * *

><p>Was there somebody else like him? Emiya Shirou thought.<p>

Was there someone else out there that believed in the same ideals as he did?

Was there someone else who thought that it was more important to save as many people as one can rather than thinking whether the lives were worth saving at all?

"Onii-chan, you're making that serious look again," Ilya interrupted Shirou's thoughts.

"Ohh, sorry Ilya," Shirou apologized, quickly changing his demeanor and then proceeding with a smile. Ilya didn't like it when Shirou had his 'serious' look on, it reminded her of their father when he wasn't all fatherly anymore, and it was also the look Shirou gave when he wanted to kill somebody.

Though his face didn't show it, his mind was still thinking about the young Kotomine.

"Well that's it for now I guess, that's all of us in the White Faction, or what Clock Tower dubbed as the Alliance of Magus," Shirou said.

"What about the last person? Shouldn't there be seven masters altogether?" Ilya asked inquisitively.

"Well it says here that the Holy Church wanted the last place, and the Magus Association couldn't find another capable person in time, so we'll just have to wait and see," Shirou said, glancing back at the dossiers.

* * *

><p>Regardless where they were or whether their names were almost identical or not, both Shirous looked back at the profiles of their counterparts, trying to understand the person behind that simple piece of paper.<p>

Were they the same?

What pushed them to move forward?

What was their deepest desire?

It seemed that their questions had to wait until they met up in Trifas for the Great Holy Grail War. They will be teaming up after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

For the sake of the reader's convenience, the spelling of both characters are spelled so that they are easily distinguishable yet they sound the same. One is Emiya 'Shirou' the other one is Kotomine 'Shiro'. Notice the absence of 'u' in Kotomine's name.

Although in the Type-Moon wiki, both names are written as 'Shirou', and in this story every character 'reads' their names when translated to English as the same spelling. It is also to be noted that the spelling of both character's names are written differently in Japanese.


	4. Two Months Ago

**Two Months Ago, Einzbern Castle, Germany.**

Emiya Shirou reviewed the current information that his informants had passed to him. Rereading it over and over, he still had a hard time believing the accuracy of these reports, though his grandfather did confirm that it was possible.

Yggdmillennia had been able to summon yet another servant. And right after that, there were reports of massive golems now treaded through Trifas. Not the ones that normal magecraft could build, but real golems. From the reports, the golems didn't seem any bigger than the golems he knew one Dead Apostle Ancestor could make, but the sheer amount that were produced in a month made Shirou wince.

So now there will be golems in the battle as well, he thought.

And he didn't even had the faintest idea how he's going to take even one out. He once read, that in the lore, it was stated that to destroy a golem, one would need to erase the runes that were crafted on its head, but he doubt it would be that simple.

It was made by the recently summoned servant, that's the only explanation he could come up with, no magus can build so much at such short time.

He inclined back in his chair with frustration.

How was Yggdmillennia doing it? They now have already summoned two servants on to the battlefield and are already exercising their powers for their advantage, while Shirou hasn't even meet his other so-called comrades or know how good they were besides Ilya since they lived in the same house.

They were really going to get a pounding if they didn't think things together and resolved their differences in the first few days of the war. The fact that almost everyone on his faction were under eighteen except for the Enforcer from the Clock Tower made it look like as if they were an ensemble of some random rag-tag bunch of misfits that the Clock Tower had to find at the last minute. He didn't know if it was a blessing or not that he would be working with people almost around the same age as he was.

And to add even more problems, he still didn't know how to resolve the most obvious issue when seven masters and servants are working together. What in the blaze will happen once all seven servants of the opposing faction had been killed and Yggdmillennia defeated? Old Man Acht seemed to be under the impression that Clock Tower had given the rights to the Einzberns to claim the Grail but was it really that simple? Would anyone, especially members of the other two founding families of the Holy Grail really just relinquish their wish and allow them to take the Grail? Or would the Grail instead grant seven wishes to all of the masters? There were too many unanswered questions that it made Yggdmillennia's status as a single family even more advantageous.

So far, it was as if Clock Tower was telling them 'we'll support you throughout the war but whatever happens after that is your own problem to solve'.

He had already voiced his concern to Elder Jubstacheit, which he responded in his own words that he will 'discuss the matter with Illyasviel'.

*sigh*

Shirou held onto his temple as he contemplated the recent events. He stared at the two picture frames that stood on his desk. One was taken last year from one of the Fake Holy Grail Wars he entered which was held in Switzerland. It was him in winter clothes with his hair still full rust-colored standing close to a beautiful blonde girl with her hair tied into a bun that stood a little shorter than him, both were smiling happily at the camera as if they were a couple. The other one, which he stared longer at, was of his family in the first few years he was adopted, Ilya, him, and both of his adopted mother and father, all of them were smiling at the camera. In that picture, Ilya stood the same height as him. She really took her 'big sister' role seriously during that time. As their mother would put it _'you're a big sister now Ilya, you have to take care of Shirou-chan when mommy and daddy are away'_.

Despite that, by now he doubt she actually took the role seriously back then, only looking at it as another 'challenge' she would have to go through. She would show him through the castle, play with him in the gardens and even go as far as to protect him from the harassment of the other family members, though at first she their relationship wasn't like that. Maybe it was just how big sisters were, no matter how much they hate you at first, they'll love you eventually.

But like he said, it was also one of those few times that he was often teased, sometimes played with, and even bullied by her to a certain extent, though he never actually minded.

It was hard to believe by now that she was older than him by a year, since Shirou was now taller than her and Ilya hardly grew, if not at all.

Ilya.

Sometimes he worried about her.

He may not understand any of the teachings of the Einzberns concerning the Holy Grail and the Heaven's Feel or even their Wish-Craft Sorcery Trait, he never had the aptitude for it. It was almost beyond his comprehension since he's not actually a 'real' member of the family that can actually inherit their Sorcery Trait. But he damn well knew that by now everyone is on the edge and were putting a lot of pressure on Ilya to bring the Holy Grail back home.

The only thing that he was told was that, when he has obtained the Grail, then Ilya would do the rest. Old Man Acht said that she was designed to be some kind of 'Lesser Grail' and would become the conduit needed to bring it back home.

That was as far as the details that he understood, anything other than that and the Old Man said it was just too complicated, even Ilya kept silent about it and said that it was too difficult for him to understand.

It may be so, but he still wished they would tell more about it to him, maybe he could at least help out and lessen the burden on her.

"Where is she?!" Shirou heard someone shouted outside his room accompanied by the sounds of scurrying feet across the hallway.

"Find her! Find her NOW!" It was the voice of one of his elder cousins, judging from the female voice and the crazy outburst, it had to be sister Seraphina.

Shirou shook his head in amusement.

Sister Seraphina was always known for her hot temper, short fuse and strict attitude. She wanted everything to be perfect. Shirou and Seraphina's first meeting wasn't the best event that happened in his life, even now they had a hard time talking to each other. She never liked the idea of 'adoption' done by his mother. They couldn't be taught the family's Sorcery Trait and thus can't be used to further the goals of the family, that's what she would say. Although at some moments she was negotiable, that pride, strict and arrogant attitude never left her. Maybe to her, Shirou only seemed like another tool for the family to obtain the Heaven's Feel instead of an actual member of the family.

Now that he thought about it, wasn't Ilya supposed to be continuing her studies with Seraphina? If she was in an outburst then it must have been Ilya who had done something to cause it.

Shirou stood up from his seat and headed outside of his room. If his little sister was the target of one of his elder cousin's outburst then he couldn't just sit there and do nothing, his sister may be the one who did wrong, but she didn't deserve such treatment and harsh words especially when Ilya would be doing most of the work to get the Third Magic during the war.

As he came out, a few of the maids where frantically scurrying across the hallway. Their faces were that of worried and they were darting everywhere going from room to room, one was even looking under the table and in the closets.

"What's going on? I heard shouting," Shirou stopped one of the maids and asked.

"I'm truly sorry to disturb your time young master Shirou. Young Lady Illyasviel has gone missing and Lady Seraphina is in an uproar because she was supposed to come back to continue her lessons. We are trying our hardest to find young lady Illyasviel," the maid said while bowing her head.

"Have you checked her room?" Shirou inquired, sighing. It wasn't uncommon that Ilya would go into a tantrum and hide away in the castle when she felt so pressured, usually it would be up to him to cheer her back up again and reason with whomever caused her to be that way, in this case that would be sister Seraphina.

"Yes sir, we have. She wasn't there," the maid replied nervously.

Huh, Shirou sighed again. Ilya was acting like a child again.

"I'll help find her," Shirou went on.

"But master Shirou, you don't need to-" the maid said worriedly.

"No it's ok. The war is putting a hefty burden on all of us, Ilya included. We will all need to work together if we want to win this," Shirou said firmly.

"Y-yes sir. I understand," the maid said, unsure whether to accept her master's aid or not.

Shirou followed the maid and helped her looked from one vacant room to the other. He knew all of Ilya's favorite hiding places, they used to play hide and seek in the castle until it caused the maids to go mad with their antics.

Eventually he stumbled upon sister Seraphina while searching in the lower levels.

"God that girl will be the end of me! Has anyone found her yet?! Does she not understand that time is not on our side?! Every moment we waste is another moment our opponents gain an advantage on us!" she bellowed surrounded by a few maids of the castle that were petrified with her outrage.

That's when she saw Shirou.

"EMIYA!" she shouted towards him in anger. Seraphina never called him by his given name. Because to her, he was an 'adopted' member of the family and they needed to make sure that everyone realized that he didn't have Einzbern blood in his veins.

"Yes, what's wrong sister Seraphina?" Shirou responded, making sure he sounded as polite and as attentive as possible.

"This! This is all your fault for not taking care of your…." She stopped mid-sentence, trying to find the right word for what she was about to say.

"Your 'adopted' sister!" She finally said.

"What happened?" Shirou asked.

"Illyasviel, I left her in my workshop while attending other matters and then when I came back in, she was missing! Not only that! But she also took an important relic that would have been used for the summoning ritual! If that relic broke then all of our preparations would have been in vain!" she shouted at him.

Shirou could only endure the outburst.

"Well maybe if you hadn't been so rough on her, she wouldn't have done something like that," he said.

"Are you….Are you accusing me that something like this happened?! We are already out of time Emiya and she has barely mastered the newer circuits that have been implanted on her! What are you going to do in the next two months when the both of you go to Trifas unprepared?! Do you expect to win like this?!" she went on, her rage still not subsiding. Emiya Shirou didn't flinch by his elder cousin's outburst.

"Mi-milady?" A maid then came to them wanting to say something, Seraphina noticed this and then charged her gaze at the maid.

"What is it?! Can't you see that I am currently talking with my younger cousin?!" she bellowed at the poor maid.

"My apologies milady, b-but I think young lady Illyasviel has gone out from the castle grounds," she said. This got Shirou's attention.

"What?!" Seraphina looked at the maid with accusing eyes.

"One of us realized that one of the doors to the outer areas was unlock and there were small footprints we think belonging to lady Illyasviel heading into the forest," the maid said nervously.

She did what?! Shirou though. Why did she go into the forest at a time like this? Other than the fact that there were wild animals like wolves and bears roaming the area, dusk was fast approaching and one could easily get lost with all the white snow and trees surrounding the castle.

"Damnit! This girl will be the end of our family," Seraphina cursed.

"You!" she pointed to Shirou.

"This is your fault Emiya for not looking after young Illyasviel. If that relic is damaged in anyway then it's over I tell you. Over!" She accused Shirou.

"Just calm down Seraphina, I'll look for her," Shirou said.

"Yes, you do that! Take responsibility for what you did! Make sure you bring back the relic she stole from my workshop! I don't care if that young girl gets hurt, loses a limb or two or anything, as long as she's still alive then we can heal her, but by our ancestors make sure you bring back that relic in one piece or else all of our resources in trying to obtain it will be for naught!" She barked at him.

"Excuse me?!" Shirou said to Seraphina with a cold voice.

Shirou looked towards his cousin with piercing murderous eyes when she said that she didn't care what happened to Ilya over some relic. It got her momentarily frightened before she composed herself back.

He didn't like it when people thought a person's life was less when compared to some object. People shouldn't think that way. Family shouldn't think that way.

Seraphina quietly headed back to her underground workshop in anger.

"Naomi," Shirou called one of the maids.

"Yes sir," she said.

"Head to my room and bring my rifle and my coat. I'm going out alone to find my sister," Shirou ordered, his tone changed to one of seriousness.

"Sir? Y-you're going out? By yourself? But it is too dangerous sir," the maid said.

"Don't worry about me, I'm good at tracking. And if anyone of you followed me it will only slow me down," Shirou reassured.

"Y-yes sir, I understand sir," the maid said.

"And please try not to tell the other family members about this, especially the old man. I don't want to bring back Ilya safely, only to get her shouted and further stressed over by everyone, you understand right?" Shirou requested.

"Ah, yes sir, I understand sir," the maid said, then went to Shirou's room to get the things he wanted.

Shirou looked outside of the window and saw how thick the snow was outside. Worry flooded him as to what could cause his little sister to do such a reckless thing.

"Ilya, please be safe, onii-chan is coming to save you," he quietly said to himself.

* * *

><p>Ilya treaded through the snow barefooted wearing only a plain white dress while holding tightly onto a stone tablet close to her chest. She couldn't care less about whether the ground was icy cold or that the air was chilling her bones to the core or that the whole place was freezing minus zero degrees.<p>

The only thing she thought about was to run. Run as far away as possible and don't turn back

Her eyes were watery from the recent turnout of events with her elder cousin and magecraft tutor, Seraphina.

Nobody knew what she had to go through. Nobody saw her anything else than just some 'other' homunculus. Nobody cared.

The only thing that anyone cared about was that stupid Grail and the stupid War.

What was she to everyone else? Ilya thought, stumbling around in the snow. She wanted to forget everything. She wanted to abandon everyone behind. She wanted to run away as far as she can.

That's when the faintest memory of a boy with rust-colored hair came to mind.

She stopped in her tracks. She couldn't run away, not when her brother was still back at the castle also working his hardest for the war.

What would he say if he found out that she had done something like this? Would he be angry? Disappointed? Worried? All these feelings flooded Ilya as she thought about the one person that was keeping her sane all this while.

What would Onii-chan do?

….

….

That's when she noticed the stone tablet that she was holding onto. Ilya wiped what was left of her tears and put on a resolute face.

There was only one thing to do, and that was to show everyone that she was more than just some small little girl that had to be pampered. She was a 'somebody' and that she too can do something about this war.

She went in farther into the forest.

Yggdmillennia had already summoned their servant.

The Einzberns wanted to also summon their own servant.

The conclusion she came to prove her worth was a simple one.

Summon a servant.

That's what she had to do. That's what eventually will start making people notice her. That's when she'll eventually not burden her brother and finally be useful in this goddamn war.

And the tablet in her small hands was the key to achieving that.

Finally finding a wide enough area, Ilya started drawing a magical circle in the snow. She remembered everything by heart now, all the details needed, every single line, every single curve. It was as if she was literally born with it.

As she continued drawing, small tears started forming in her eyes.

Yes, she told herself. This was the only way she could prove to her family and her brother that she also CAN accomplish something. That she wasn't just some kind of 'other' homunculus that could be thrown away after use.

She was the strongest homunculus ever created and both the blood of Magus Killer and Magicians ran thick in her veins.

Meanwhile, in the shadows of the forest, preying eyes stared at Ilya's small form and were drawn by the strong magical energies that were being brought forth. The young girl in white seemed all-too distracted with her current affairs and the bestial instincts inside of them told that this was easy prey. The beast's mouth watered with gluttony, and slowly their pack stalked and came closer to where the young girl in white was, unbeknownst to the girl.

* * *

><p>"ILYA!"<p>

Emiya Shirou ran as fast as he could through the thick forest surrounding the Einzbern Castle. He held on to his DSR-XIII Sniper Rifle, ready if there be any predators about, or worse, one of the Einzbern's magical abominations that didn't get disposed of properly.

Currently right now, it was the season when the wolves and bears were the fiercest, and even though he knew Ilya was more than capable to take on any opponent, magical or not, he didn't like the idea that his little sister had to draw blood.

If anyone had to become a murderer to protect everyone else, it would have to be him. He would rather take on all that was evil rather than allow her sister to commit such a thing.

"Trace On," Shirou chanted, placing his hand on the small footprints in the snow. They were fading fast with more snow coming down and visibility was decreasing, dusk was also fast approaching, making any every moment count.

A myriad of images invaded Shirou's mind as he cast a Structural Analysis spell on the area.

_A small set of feet. Heading north to the more even ground. There was something that she was holding on to. _

Shirou winced, it wasn't just Ilya's tracks that he stumbled upon.

_Four-legged. Thick fur. Sharp fangs. It smelled the young homunculus tracks and kept its distance while following the easy prey unaware by the girl. It lead a pack of smaller canines. Two. Four. Seven in total._

This was bad, Shirou thought. If he didn't reach Ilya fast enough he'll have to shed blood tonight. His face turned to worry at how his little sister could have done something like this.

Didn't she know that no matter what happened, he'll always be there to protect her? God-damn-it.

As Shirou trekked further into the forest, the small footprints along with the numerous more paw prints that followed behind became more visible. The small footprints suddenly became uneven, as if Ilya was fastening her pace. Did she finally noticed that there were a pack of hungry wolves following her and that she dashed forward in fear?

Shirou quicken his stride. The last thing he wanted was that his little sister to get hurt.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" Shirou heard a loud scream of terror further within the forest. His heart went a pace faster as worry overshadowed clouded his mind.

"ILYA!" Shirou screamed, calling out for his little sister.

The forest suddenly shook as a blast of mana surged through the forest that it seemed that the very trees were bent. Shirou literally stopped in his tracks at the huge presence of magical energy that he felt and the surge of energy that was just released.

'What just happened?!' Shirou thought. He adjusted his sniper rifle and unlock the safety. By now a thousand different scenarios were playing through his mind as he ran to rescue his sister.

Was it the wolves? Was she caught surprised by their attack? Did she tried casting a spell? Was that the reason for the surge of energy? And what about the sudden presence he could feel? Did it somehow attracted some kind of magical beast?

Shirou's thoughts were interrupted when suddenly a tree collapsed a few meters east from where he was headed.

And then he heard the most deafening roar he had heard in his entire life. A roar of pure fury that whatever he had already heard paled in comparison.

"GRAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR" the roar cracked through the forest sending shivers through Shirou. He changed directions and headed to where the sound originated instead.

As he closed the gap, he could make out a huge black being that towered the forest. It was as big as the trees itself. Only when he came closer did he realized what it was.

"What the-" Shirou froze in his place as he stared in both awe and dumbstruck, coupled with a tint of fear at what was before him.

Shadowing him was a tall, statue-like man that stood at least more than two meters in height. It looked like some kind of 'black giant' with long bushy hair. Bare chested with little to no armor worn, the giant's arms and legs were ripped and bulging with muscle that it seemed almost as strong as steel.

In one of its hands was the dead carcass of a wolf. Blood encircled the monster and Shirou could instantly feel the killing intent it had, though it didn't move from where it was at the moment.

Shirou looked around him and noticed the many dead bodies of wolves and blood in the snow. Panic clouded his mind as he thought of the worst possible thing that could have happened.

What in the world happened here?! What was this thing?! Where was Ilya?!

His eyes quickly darted towards the towering beast in front of him, and a realization downed over him. Shirou lost his composition as fury fogged his mind. With swiftness, Shirou pumped prana into his magical crests causing his left hand to glow a luminescent green. He pointed his Sniper rifle at the black giant who this whole time had been oblivious to Shirou's presence.

"**TRACE: ORIGIN**!" he pumped prana into the DSR-XIII, projecting the strongest bullet into its cartridge, the Origin Bullets of the Magus Killer.

"Trace: Overclock!" Shirou chanted as his body started reinforcing itself, he came down onto one knee so that he could balance the Sniper Rifle better and aimed it towards the chest of the monster.

"Time Alter: Double Stagnate!" he filled his magic crests with prana and wove the magecraft that he had inherited from his father, time manipulation.

Shirou's whole body froze in time, his heart slowed down a beat and his breathing calmed. He became more attuned to his senses as time seemed to stop momentarily as he slowed down his vitals to obtain a stable shot in the midst of his enraged state.

*Huff*

Releasing his breath, Shirou pulled the trigger, letting loose a single shot of the Origin Bullet.

*BANG!*

The single loudest deafening noise cracked through Shirou's eardrums as the DSR-XIII smashed the .30-06 Springfield Origin Bullet forward, breaking the sound barrier and whizzing towards the black giant.

'_Die monster_!' that was the single thing in Shirou's mind as the Origin Bullet surged forward, his eyes were focused with a murderous stare that few have seen him ever showed, some of those that did were dead.

The bullet surged forward, but then suddenly something amazing happened as it slammed into the black giant.

It got deflected.

Shirou was completely left momentarily speechless at the sight.

'_No way_!' for something to be able to deflect his father's Origin Bullets, that thing either had to be made of diamonds or it had to be a magical being completely on a different level, that of a Phantasmal being or even a Dead Apostle Ancestor.

"Trace: On! FULL BARREL!" Shirou said, not giving up he filled the DSR-XIII's cartridge to the fullest of its ammo capacity with the Origin Bullets. This has got to be the first time he had to fill the DSR capacity to the fullest after a bullet got deflected.

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

*BANG!*

Every time he finished tracing a bullet, he aimed, then fired straight to the giant, only to yet again have the bullets deflected, as if the giant's body was made of steel. Tears suddenly started forming in his eyes as he started to realize the futility.

*Huff*

*Huff*

Amazingly the giant didn't move from where it was even after all the shots Shirou made.

"What did you do to my sister you monster?!" Shirou bellowed to the gigantic being in anger, his eyes watery. He kept his rifle aimed at the monster, though by now he knew he might not be able to do anything if it started to charge at him.

*Huff*

*Huff*

The black giant then turned to Shirou, staring at him with golden and crimson eyes. Shirou was petrified from where he stood, he could feel the annoyance the being felt that he had caused it, but something was keeping it from moving from where it stood.

"What did you do to Ilya?!" Shirou shouted. This got the attention of the giant, and it slowly took a step forward towards Shirou. Shirou braced himself to dash to the side at the slightest hint that the monster would come crashing at him, those hands looked like it could snap him in two with ease.

"I'm fine Onii-chan," the shaky voice of Ilya was heard.

"Ilya?" Shirou said in disbelief.

A small figure came limping slowly from behind the giant beast. Ilya walked towards her brother in a weakened state.

"Ilya!" Shirou dropped his rifle on the ground and dashed to catch Ilya before she feel forward. He caught her in his arms and embraced her. His eyes were watery with worry.

"God Ilya! I was so worried! What in the world were you thinking?!" Shirou tightly hugged his little sister, bringing her closer to his chest.

*sob*

Ilya suddenly erupted in tears as her brother enveloped her small body.

*sob*

"I'm sorry Onii-chan. I'm so sorry," Ilya buried her face in Shirou's chest as she cried to her hearts contents.

*sob*

The two siblings stayed in embrace for a while, oblivious of their bloodied surroundings or the cold environment or even the black giant that was towering over them that stared in their direction. For those few seconds, Shirou was extremely relieved to find Ilya safe.

*sob*

Ilya finally let go of her brother and looked at him, still shaken and weary. She wanted to say something but was overtaken when her brother started talking first.

"Don't ever do something like this again! Ever!" Shirou said looking into the eyes of his sister as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm-I'm sorry onii-chan," Ilya sobbed. She seemed like she was about to collapse from the smallest of resistance. Ilya looked towards the towering black giant and smiled.

"It's alright Berserker. This is my Onii-chan," she said weakly while smiling. The black giant grunted quietly as if it understood what the small homunculus said.

"Ber-Berserker?" Shirou said confused.

"Yes Onii-chan, this is Berserker, my servant for the Great Holy Grail War," Ilya said.

"Y-you summoned a servant?" Shirou said, still confused with everything. Ilya took the hand of her brother and brought him to a clearing nearby that was behind the black giant. Drawn on the snow of the clearing was a summoning circle. A smashed up stone tablet laid across the summoning circle.

Shirou looked at the summoning circle and finally understood what had just happened.

"Y-you, you summoned a servant, Ilya. A real heroic spirit," he said, still finding it hard to believe it. Shirou looked back at the giant called Berserker. The presence of the Heroic Spirit was unlike anything that he had ever felt. This wasn't the half-assed servants that were called upon by Fake Holy Grails, this was the real deal, the real thing when Zelretch himself carved a path to the Throne of Heroes during the First Holy Grail War.

"Why did you do this Ilya?" Shirou asked, his face turned to one of worry. Ilya turned towards her brother, slightly confused by the question.

"Why did you had to run away? Why couldn't you perform the summoning ritual back in the castle where it was safe?!" as Shirou continued to ask, his tone of voice grew. He had mix feelings as of now. Relieved was one, coupled with angry, disappointed, worry and a myriad of other things he felt that would say that he just couldn't understand why Ilya had to do something so dangerous outside of the castle walls.

Ilya tilted her head down in embarrassment, then finally gave an answer.

"Because…..because I didn't want to be a burden to Onii-chan. I didn't want to become just some other useless tool you could throw away. I wanted to show to everyone else back home that I wasn't just some other homunculus they created!" she said.

'I-I-I wanted to be able to protect you too," she finally admitted, remembering back what her parents told her.

Shirou sighed. So was that was this all about? Family expectations and sibling pressure.

He took a step closer to his little sister and then brought himself down so he was at eye level.

"Look Ilya," he started speaking, placing his hands on her shoulder and looking into her crimson eyes that seemed to be almost at the verge of another tear.

"It doesn't matter if you were great in magecraft, was one of the most perfect homunculus the Old Man had created or even was able to summon a servant early, you're my sister, we're family, and family sticks together no matter what," he said reassuringly.

"Bu-but mom and dad, they ordered me to-," Ilya quickly spoke before he was silenced by Shirou coming in closer to her and whispering something into her ear.

"Mom and dad told me the same thing, Ilya. Take care of your little sister no matter what," he quietly whispered to her.

Ilya's eyes became watery and then in a fit of sadness and regret, she closed the gap between her brother and herself, burying her head in his shoulder and then once again cried.

*sob*

"I'm-I'm s-so sorry- Onii-chan," Ilya cried.

*sob*

"It's ok Ilya. It's ok," Shirou said, patting on the back of his sister as she let out the last of her tears on his brother's shoulder, trying to reassure her that everything was fine. His eyes became watery as well, but he didn't well up in tears like his sister.

It was all just a huge misunderstanding. An accumulation of feelings welled up into a single person that didn't know how to bring it out, and then finally when those feelings did come out, it came out like a tsunami.

* * *

><p>Only the faintest of light shone in the sky as the two siblings trekked back towards the castle. Shirou had to carry Ilya on his back because she was so exhausted from the summoning ritual.<p>

"I'm sorry you had to carry me all the way back, Onii-chan," Ilya said apologetically, resting her head on Shirou's back.

"Bah, don't sweat it. You're way lighter than my rifle," he said while walking. Berserker followed them from behind as they walked back home. The servant's presence now felt akin to a guardian than a monster like what Shirou felt earlier during their first encounter. Ilya seemed to have a good grasp at commanding the gigantic hero, even if his sense of reason was taken away.

"Maybe next time I could ask Berserker to carry me," she suggested playfully.

"You know, that's not a bad idea, you are quite light and I don't think it'll hinder his movements, though I think if he fought somebody you shouldn't be close to him," Shirou said.

"He could step on you by accident," he pointed out. This got Shirou a low growl of disapproval from the towering servant.

"Grrrrrrr," Berserker growled as if he understood what Shirou said. Ilya turned her attention to the Mad Warrior.

"Berserker would never step on me. He's the strongest servant ever and he'll win us the Holy Grail!" Ilya exclaimed in excitement. Shirou smiled at this, glad that his sister was back to her cheerful usual self.

Thinking about Berserker, he still hadn't ask Ilya which Heroic Spirit Berserker was. Were there any giant heroic spirits? For a servant with that has been robbed of his instinct, Berserker seemed pretty calm and easy to order. Maybe one of the heroes from Norse Mythology?

His thoughts were interrupted when they've reached the front entrance of the castle. The castle lights were bright and Shirou could hear voices from inside. Their presence must had already been detected by the bounded fields surrounding the castle. Everyone must have been worried by the presence given off by Berserker, he was a Heroic Spirit after all.

A maid opened the front door and stared towards the direction of Shirou and Ilya and the accompanying Berserker, her face was in horror at the presence of the Heroic Spirit.

"Lady Illyasviel, Master Shirou! Oh how thankful that the both of you are safe, we feared the worse," she said worriedly, trying to ignore the fact that a giant was following behind them as they stepped on the pavement.

"Glad to be back, Sella," Shirou said, bringing Ilya down so she could walk back. Ilya held on to her brother for support as her feet wobbly tried walking a few steps. Sella gave a hand to Ilya to aid her walking into the castle.

"Master Shirou, I'm sorry but Lady Seraphina-" Sella said but was interjected by Shirou.

"-told everyone that Ilya ran away into the forest and that I went out to get her, its ok Sella," Shirou said. He suspected that Seraphina would do something like that. By now, Old Man Acht would have known the two children of Emiya were missing and must have been furious about it. All of his hopes of winning back the Holy Grail lied in the survivability of the both of them, so for sure he would be angry at their reckless behavior especially right before the Grail War even started.

"Don't worry Sella, I'll explain the situation to everyone," Shirou reaffirmed.

"But sir, what about the-" Sella stopped midsentence as she pointed the black giant, not sure what to call it or how to tell the family about its presence.

"Oh, that's Berserker and he'll be my servant during the Holy Grail War," Ilya said casually, not noticing the sheer fear in Sella as Ilya brought along a two meter giant into the castle.

"A-a-a servant? You mean a Heroic Spirit?!" Sella panicked.

"Yep, and he's called Berserker!" Ilya said cheerfully.

"B-but sir, what am I supposed to tell everyone?" Sella asked fearfully.

"Like I said Sella, I'll explain the situation to everyone, trust me in this," Shirou said reassuringly.

"Y-yes sir, my apologies sir," Sella said. As they entered through the front doors of the castle, they were greeted by half a dozen worried and angry faces which included Justus, Seraphina and Isolde waiting at the front hallways of the castle.

"Shirou what is the meaning of this? We felt a huge magical presence cross the boundaries of the castle and were prepared to lay siege until one of the servants said you two were approaching," Justus said.

"About that," Shirou said affirmatively, though he was still not quite sure how to explain it to his elder cousin about the summoning of Berserker. So instead he allowed Berserker's presence himself to do the talking.

"Nobody cares about that Brother Justus," Seraphina interjected, then she eyed angrily at Shirou and then towards little Ilya.

"My relic! What happened to my relic?!" she said furiously. Seraphina must have noticed that they didn't had the relic with them.

"It shattered during the summoning ritual," Shirou said.

"Y-you tried to perform a summoning ritual?!" Seraphina asked baffled. Then her face turn to rage.

"And I assume it went horribly wrong?! What am I talking about? Of course it went horribly wrong, without enough resources and the Grail War in another two months it would be impossible to materialize such a strong being," she said angrily.

"This is your fault Illyasviel!" she pointed accusingly towards Shirou's little sister.

"All of the money used to find that relic, all of the time it took us in order to summon one of the strongest Heroic Spirits in history and you. You! Had to act irrationally and throw it all away. By our ancestors I will have Elder Jubstacheit punish you for the mistakes that you have committed!"

"Seraphina, please remain calm, I'm sure Shirou and young Illyasviel could explain to us what really happened. I for one don't believe they wasted your resources for naught," Justus defended the two children of Emiya.

"NO! You have been too soft Brother Justus and look where it had gotten us into! It may have work in maintaining the family, but that attitude can only go so far!" Seraphina snapped back at Justus. This got Justus serious.

"Seraphina, listen to yourself speak!" he commanded her which got her to quiet down.

"We will allow Shirou and Illyasviel to explain what happened and take actions accordingly," he said affirmatively, his gaze did not shifted from Seraphina or the two Emiyas.

"If-if Elder Jubstacheit knew what happened and what Ilya committed his rage will know no bounds!" she said, not accepting defeat.

"And what will happen if I did knew what had occurred?" an archaic voice boomed across the hallway. Everyone stood in silence at the voice of the Elder. He made his presence by descending down the grand staircase to where the five Einzberns were arguing with one another.

"Elder," both Seraphina and Justus tilted their heads in respect at his presence. The other household members and even the servants followed suit in respect.

"What will happen if I did knew Seraphina?" Elder Jubstacheit spoke.

"My apology for interrupting the peace Elder, but it was young Illyasviel's fault and her adopted brother Emiya that such a state happened. They failed in a summoning ritual that wasn't supposed to be performed until the dawn of the war and instead ended up destroyed the relic that we had tried to sought after," she said. The Old Man listen intently, then he looked towards the children of Emiya.

"Is that true Emiya?" he asked. Shirou didn't know if he was asking him specifically or the two of them.

"I concede, Elder. We did attempt a summoning ritual, but unlike how Seraphina described it, it was not unsuccessful," Shirou said, Ilya remained silent as her brother explained.

"Liar! Nobody could summon a servant without enough resources or without the aid of the Grail, especially by one with weak magical affinity and lineage such as yourself," Seraphina said accusingly towards Shirou.

"Seraphina, please contain yourself, allow him to speak!" Justus interrupted angrily.

"Justus, Seraphina, silence please," the Elder finally spoke up. This got both of them quiet.

"Emiya, were you able to summon a servant?" the Old Man asked, his eyes looked down upon Shirou.

"It wasn't I who summoned the servant Elder, it was Ilya," Shirou declared.

"Illyasviel?" the Elder looked at her.

"Y-yes Elder, I was able to summon a servant using Seraphina's relic," she defended herself. She was in a less presentable way in front of the Elder Jubstacheit, with her tattered clothes smeared with blood while hardly wearing any footwear. She was actually still cold from her venture outside but the fear to speak in front of the Elder superseded all of that.

"Berserker! Come in please," she shouted outside. Thundering footsteps shook the castle. Entering through the huge front doors was Ilya's servant, Berserker. He had to bend a little in order to fit through the doors. He finally stood behind Ilya for all to see. The Heroic Spirit let loose a presence that all of the castle residents could feel.

"I-I-I can't believe it," Seraphina said in disbelief, she stumbled backwards to have a better look at the servant.

"You-you summoned a real Heroic Spirit," she stated.

"Wow," Isolde stared at Berserker. Even Justus stared in disbelief at the towering giant. This must have been the first time any of the Einzberns had witnessed a Heroic Spirit up close and personnel, coupled with the gigantic presence the Heroic Spirit gave off. The only ones who may have met a servant before would be Shirou and maybe the Elder himself.

Elder Jubstacheit nodded his head, impressed at the presence of the servant.

"H-how did you manage to do it, Ilya? The energy needed to materialize it? The amount of prana needed to supply its existence?" Isolde asked, still finding it hard to believe that they were in the presence of a servant.

"I-I just did it,"Ilya said happily. In all honesty, her body was aching and she could feel her magic circuits trying to pump in as much prana as possible in order to sustain Berserker. She noticed the Elder took another step forward then spoke.

"Illyasviel von Einzbern," he said.

"You have been born for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to bring back the Third Magic for the Einzberns. Your creation was to become the ultimate master and the ultimate vessel for the Grail. It is only fitting that that creation included the ability to sustain and control a servant as strong as Berserker even without the aid of the Grail," the Elder spoke.

"Which Heroic Spirit did you brought forth?" the Elder asked. Ilya stopped at the question, looking towards her big brother for assurance. Shirou gave a nod.

"He….he is Heracles, Elder, the mightiest hero from Greek," she announced. This stunned everyone. Even Shirou was caught completely off guard by this fact. Wasn't it said in mythology that Heracles attained immortality and divinity? What did that meant in a war of Heroic Spirits?

Elder Jubstacheit looked satisfied at that answer.

"Very well then Illyasviel. In summoning Berserker, you have promised yourself a spot among the masters in the Great Holy Grail War, let nothing stand in your way towards victory," the Elder said.

"Justus," the Old Man called.

"Yes Elder," Justus responded attentively.

"Tell Aurelia and Ernestine to transplant the remaining magical circuits onto young Illyasviel as soon as they can, we cannot allow her to sustain Berserker without the Holy Grail in her current fragile state," he said.

"Yes Elder, I understand," Justus replied.

"Seraphina," the Elder then called.

"Yes Elder," she responded.

"You will need not to continue your lessons with young Illyasviel, from here on I will personally start tutoring her in magecraft, anything else I will impart it onto Sella as her accompanying handmaiden," the Elder said. Seraphina's eyes widened at the order, but complied nonetheless.

"I-I understand Elder," she said.

"Emiya," the Elder called.

"Yes Elder," Shirou responded.

"Prepare yourself for your own summoning ritual. In two months the Grail War shall commence and you and young Illyasviel will head out to Trifas to retrieve back the Grail that was stolen from us," the Old Man commanded.

"Yes Elder," Shirou said.

"Sella, please take young Illyasviel back to her quarters and allow her to recuperate until the next circuit transplant. Illyasviel, you may dematerialize your servant until the procedure," Jubstacheit ordered. Ilya nodded, following her grandfather's orders.

"We shall discuss more about this in the morning," the Elder spoke. He then proceeded to ascend back into his study as if nothing had happened. Shirou finally sighed when he was gone.

The other members of the Einzbern household also went back to their business as the whole commotion had finally ended.

That was a close one Shirou thought. He couldn't make heads or tails what was in the mind of his grandfather, but one thing he was sure of was that he was NOT angry at what had just happened. He was glad that he didn't had to stay on the other side of his grandfather's fury, as he recalled his other family members who had been, it wasn't the most pleasant of experiences.

"Ilya, I think you could dematerialize Berserker now," Shirou reminded his little sister.

"Huh? Oh yeah," she finally responded. She went towards Berserker and patted his leg since that was how tall she was when compared to him.

"Thank you Berserker, you may rest now, I will be fine," she said and with that Berserker dematerialized into spirit form.

Ilya almost collapsed from the high intake of mana she used to sustain the Heroic Spirit. Shirou caught her by the arms and called over for Sella to help.

"Milady, master Shirou, I will take care and accompany Lady Illyasviel back to her chambers. You may rest now. I will bring dinner to her room and yours as well if you would like," Sella said.

"Thanks Sella, but I think I'll eat in the dining hall so that you can focus on helping out Ilya," Shirou said.

"Very well then master Shirou," she replied and with that she bowed her head and helped Ilya up the stairs back to her room to rest. Ilya still held onto her brother's hand not wanting to let go.

"Onii-chan….." she called weakly.

"It's ok Ilya, I'll go and meet you back in your room, but now you need to rest, everything will be fine, I promise," he reassured her, which she then finally complied and allowed Sella to take her up to her room.

Shirou looked towards his little sister as Sella aided her up the stairs and finally accompanied her back into her room, leaving Shirou at the front doors.

A sense of relief breezed through Shirou at the events that had just transpired today. Who knows what will happen in the future?

"So you think you're some kind of hero? You think you'll always be able to protect her?" Seraphina who was also still standing at the entranceway said to Shirou mockingly. It seemed that she wasn't content with the fact that she was both outsmarted and embarrassed in front of Elder Jubstacheit and the whole family. She looked towards Shirou accusingly with her crimson eyes.

"I don't think I'll be able to protect her. I WILL protect her. No matter what," Shirou declared resolutely, staring back into the accusing eyes of his elder cousin.

"Hmmphhh," Seraphina sneered.

"You are not of Einzbern blood, what would you understand? You are not bounded towards the Einzberns like the rest of us. And I know that someday that loyalty of yours will crumble and you will turn your back on us all! And mark my words Emiya, when that day comes you would have wished you were never born nor adopted into this family. You would have wished you were born amongst trash and that of normal folk for that is what you truly are," she declared to him coldly.

"I will be watching you Emiya," she finally said before stomping angrily back to her room. Shirou looked back as his elder cousin finally left him.

"We'll see about that," Emiya Shirou said in a less audible yet determined tone.

Yes he might not have a hint of Einzbern blood in his veins, yes he may never understand or be able to apply his family's Sorcery Trait, and yes he may not have the same aspiration as everyone else to obtain the Thrid Magic, but that didn't mean that he considered everyone here as a stranger or anyone below him. He was part of the Einzberns now, it didn't matter whether if he had the same blood, he had the actions to prove it. He would do whatever he can to help lessen the burden on his family and he would sacrifice himself to protect those closest to him such as Brother Justus, Isolde and even to some extent Old Man Acht, but most importantly he would be there always to protect his sister, Illyasviel.

He would never allow anything to befallen them. That was his stance, for he was a Hero of Justice.

The voice of his mother echoed back to him. The advice and what he thought was an order she gave to him on her deathbed was something to Shirou, along with his father's own aspiration, was one of the few things that had been the driving force that kept Shirou going forward all these times, even when things ended badly.

* * *

><p><em>Shirou-chan. I'm sorry I won't be able to watch you grow and become a Hero of Justice like your father, but know that I will always be proud of you no matter what happens. This family, the Einzberns, is an old and ancient family.<em>

_There will be times when you will be treated ill and scorned because of the lineage that you have. But do not falter, in time they will come to accept you and believe in you as any other member of household Einzbern, just like how they treated your father. Protect those closest to you and live life to the fullest with them. The path this family has taken is a hard one and may be beyond your comprehension, and that is why it is up to you that everyone remains pure and focus on the task at hand and commit no evil._

_And most importantly, protect Ilya. She and you are your father's future and mine as well. The time will come when you will be tested, when the Grail is finally found and the Third Magic finally realized. Make sure nothing happens to Ilya-chan, no bad, no evil, only pure light bearing the future of your father and myself._

_I know you can do this, I believe in you Shirou-chan, because just like your father, you too are a Hero of Justice._


	5. Dawn of the War

**Dawn of the Holy Grail War, Trifas, Romania.**

Trifas is a small city north of Sighisoara, the birth place of Vlad III Tepes. Its high and solid walls were built in such a way that it could defend against the constant invasion and long sieges laid by the Turks during the Middle Ages. This construction marvel and ingenuity, which surrounded the citadel and a part of the city, was still perfectly preserved even after centuries of bombardment, and was still capable to go through another round if it had to.

It had to be, because another war was fast approaching its walls once again, though on a much different scale than what it had previously gone through.

The surrounding city buildings were built during the Middle Ages and have undergone repeated repairs and reconstructions, making them no less valuable than those in Sighisoara. Almost twenty thousand people lived in the surrounding stone walled city, working on a living based on agriculture and textiles.

Among all of this, what could presumably be called as the symbol of the city, was a gigantic castle that sat atop a small hill, towering above the streets, the Fortress of Millennia. If one thought that the magical castle of the Einzberns in the forest of Germany was grand, then they had never seen the Fortress of Millennia which was almost twice its size and even had the advantage of higher ground. This castle had never changed hands since the Middle Ages onwards and up to the present day. Whether it was the invasion of the Ottoman Turks, the outbreak of the Black Death, or even the explosions of modern war, much hardship had befallen on Trifas and many have tried to take over it even to today, the fortress and the clan which owns it still stands strong.

The fact that the Fortress of Millennia had had the same clan rule over it since the beginning of its construction attest to the power the ruling clan had over Trifas and its surrounding areas. Many of the people that had stayed in Trifas for all their lives and witnessed throughout the centuries how the clan ruled might even be familiar, or even to some extent, informed with what their lords were practicing inside those castle walls.

Magecraft.

With what could be presumed as a clan that was also well versed in magecraft and its mysteries.

The name of the clan was Yggdmillennia. They were a family of magus who in the past migrated to Romania from Northern Europe. And now with their dominating presence and strong hold over the area, the castle thrived more than ever before.

And it wasn't just the clan members of Yggdmillennia that resided within the castle walls. There were sights of menials with perfect features, working various chores and patrolling the castle grounds and the city streets with halberds and glaives in hand, statues with glowing eyes that could move and walk, and mechanical spider-like contraptions scaling over the castle rooftops and watching the city from high above.

Such paranormal activities would have shock anyone who actually saw and witnessed the things committed inside the castle walls, but the residents of Trifas wouldn't be as reckless as to step foot into the mystical castle atop of the hill. The residents knew that when the lights of the citadel were lit during the night, they were forbidden from ever stepping outside of their homes and houses after dark, because it meant that something was about to happen, something big that had the whole clan come together at the Fortress of Millennia.

That was why five months ago, when the lights which had been extinguished for so long became bright again, the people exchanged glances and gloom clouded their faces. The rulers of the castle had returned.

Praying for the safety of their home, the people of Trifas continued their daily lives, unaware of what was about to befallen their city.

However, nothing was farther than the truth.

In reality, it could be said that Yggdmillennia was only a small annoying pesky fly compared to the many other magical, treacherous and powerful factions that walked the world. The only reason why the bigger magical factions such as the Holy Church, The Magus Association or even the Dead Apostle Ancestors never took notice of Yggdmeillennia was because they didn't thought it was worth the effort. That all changed until Yggdmillennia announced their succession from the Magus Association, which caused the Association to finally take them seriously.

Yggdmillennia's puny power could easily be represented by the members that made up the clan.

Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia was one of those members.

He laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. He raised his left hand and then stared at the three black Command Seals that had formed there a few months ago.

'How did it come to this?' He thought.

Caules was your normal average everyday seventeen-year-old teenager. Putting aside the fact that he was from a family of magus, though he wasn't actually that talented in magecraft to actually be considered from one. That was because he was the younger of the two children of the Forvedge family and in the magi community, being born first or second changed a lot in how one grew up in a family of magus. For one thing, it meant that whoever was born first was officially going to become the next heir of the family and its craft. This meant, that in addition to inheriting the family crest that had accumulated generations of research, the firstborn was given the most focus in their upbringing in magecraft, inherited all of the wealth and resources of the family and obtained the best form of education in magecraft that the family could provide.

All of that was given to Caules's sister, Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia, instead of him, because he got unlucky enough to be born second.

Caules sighed.

And even so, after all his life of being treated as the 'spare' child, he really couldn't care less how his family, or even how his whole clan treated him, he's gotten used to it now. Seventeen years of living and realizing earlier on that he was only a 'spare' to his sister allowed him to move on and explore other avenues for his life rather than live like some sulking-pathetic magus that couldn't accomplish anything, even as a human.

When his parents died two years ago, a lot of new doors were opened to him. Unlike Fiore who had to become the next head of the family and approach the highest seat in Yggdmillennia, he was free to pursue whatever he wanted, despite the fact he wouldn't have the backing of any of the clan's resources that is.

One thing that really caught his attention was how much science can keep up with magecraft and its effect when both were combined.

That and many more were his plans until the black Command Seals that looked like some kind of dead tree formed on the back of his left hand several months ago similar to her sister's.

Damn it.

And just when he thought his fortune couldn't get any worse, it just did.

Why did he had to get caught up in this mess in the first place? Who in the world would put him up to such an audacious adventure? What was even the point of entering when he himself didn't know what he wanted to wish for in the first place?

It was like God was trying to play some sick joke on him after he was finally able to get some sense of balance in his life.

The Holy Grail War wasn't a place for someone like him.

The Holy Grail War was a place for someone who actually had a wish, like reaching for Akasha, which was supposed to be the ultimate wish of any magus.

Not him.

For one thing, he didn't know if he had any wish or desire for the Holy Grail even if it was supposedly an omnipotent wish-granting device. And even if he did, he just didn't believe that the Holy Grail can actually grant it. Secondly, he had not even wanted to become a magus in the first place if he could have chosen it. Despite the fact that there were some interesting things that he enjoyed while he was a magus, like performing absurd, scientifically impossible phenomenon, Caules never really got the hang of becoming a magus and never wished to devote his life to the practice or the research of it.

Clearly, if anyone knew the reason why he became and continued as a magus in the first place they would have laughed.

The path of becoming a magus wasn't something he wanted for himself. To him, choosing to become a magi means choosing to become something less than human since that was what was required to develop and advance their research.

If anything proved that point, it was how the Magus Association was currently treating his clan.

Sanctioning them, closing off all of the doors to negotiations and starving them from any resources they could get their hands on. The families that resided in Romania were lucky enough that the Association's influence didn't affect them, but anyone residing closer to England meant that they will be hit with scrutiny and attacks from the Association.

And to make matters worse, their elder couldn't be bothered about it, he was more focused on the events that were happening here in Trifas, and instead what he did was simply order all of the families to relocate themselves to Romania.

As if any of their families could easily do that.

Other than the whole problem of getting from one place to another before getting killed or captured by members of the Association or the Church, any family would also have to think about how to move their research without it being damaged or stolen, and that wasn't an easy task considering how much time and effort a family put into making sure their research could be inherited and continued for the next generations to come.

And Darnic thought that all of that could simply be swept aside because he blindly believed they would 'eventually' obtain the Third Magic and the Path to Akasha. Caules couldn't make up his mind on who was the bigger fool, the person giving the ridiculous orders or the people that listened.

It didn't matter where he looked, whether it was the group he was aligned to, or the group that was trying to kill him, magus were a crazy bunch no matter how hard one tried to deny it.

There was one exception to this, Caules thought.

His sister, Fiore.

Contrary to what people thought, Caules didn't hate his elder sister. Jealous, maybe. Too proud to admit that she was better, that was for sure. Acted like a jerk when people started comparing him to her, one didn't need to argue any more.

But he never hated her, he couldn't.

There were reasons that compelled him to not hate her, which were the same reasons why he had stayed as a 'spare' heir magus and agreed to enter this God-forsaken war.

Like he said, the reason was almost laughable.

Caules lifted his body from his bed into a sitting position. He stared at the monitor of his computer which was displaying information Yggdmillennia was able to intercept from the Magus Association concerning the participating magus on the opposing faction which his sister gave a softcopy to him.

He almost could hardly believe it. The fact that five out of six of the current mages the Association were employing to fight in this war were his age just further proved his point that anyone who became a magus really weren't thinking straight.

Sending children to fight in a war, like how low can one get?

Though he knew the fact that the people that the Association were sending were from the three founding families because they were the ones most well versed with the Holy Grail Wars, and most of them had better education and were better mages than most of his clan members, the whole idea that a family of magus, any family for that matter, would be willing to send their children into war and witness God-knows-what horrors was just horrifying to say the least and spoke how much they didn't care about the well-being of their child.

Was this the equivalence to 'creating childhood memories' among magi? Sending your child in a war that they may or may not come out alive, and praying to whatever divine beings that would listen that they would at least die advancing the research of their family's craft?

One of the participants sent from the Einzberns didn't even look like she was over twelve for God's sake!

And that wasn't even the worst of it.

No the worst of it was the info concerning one of the opposing masters that was related to the Einzberns.

The son of the Magus Killer.

Faker.

There had to be a problem with his glasses the last time he put it on. Her aunt Celenike must have put some kind of hex or jinx on it just to pull some prank on him, because he couldn't, in all honesty, believe that someone his age, could become a killer, a murderer.

A monster.

What in the blazing world was his parents teaching him? Killing Magus, Vampires and other known magical creatures for Dummies? 101 methods to raising a murderer? The Ultimate Guide to killing your target and still enjoy dinner with a smile?

And even after Faker's father died, as if one war wasn't enough, how the hell was he able to still go on through each war without turning into a psychopath and going on a frenzy? Wait, retract back what he just thought. This guy was already a 'psychopath', he just hadn't gone into a frenzy, yet.

If anyone was a danger to him or his sister, it would be this guy.

How in the world could the world itself allowed somebody like him to live? Did the world thought it was ok for children to be shooting at adults to a point that they can literally carve a name for themselves for people to run in fear. What was the world coming to?

It was pathetic. It was utterly, ridiculously and horrifyingly pathetic. Even by now, he still had a hard time believing that these were the type of people he mingled with.

And that was why he had to follow this foolish endeavor of Fiore's and become a participating master.

Because it was so pathetic.

He laid back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, contemplating how he would ever be able to fight and defend against someone like the Faker.

It felt so pathetic.

He was so pathetic.

* * *

><p>Deep within the dense forest of Germany, the Einzberns were busy putting in their last efforts to take back the Holy Grail. They have been preparing for over the course of these five months, building their own army of homunculi, researching on newer forms of magecraft and also training the two family members that would eventually win them back the Holy Grail from the clutches of Yggdmillennia.<p>

This was it.

It was now or never. The Einzberns would either succeed in their struggle after a thousand years of losing the Third Magic finally reclaim it back or they will perish and wither as all of their efforts were for naught.

They had come a long way, and nothing, nothing will stop them from winning back the Holy Grail.

The two members of the Einzbern that would be sent to Trifas were now at the Einzbern Chapel with Elder Jubstacheit, preparing for the pinnacle of all of their efforts, the summoning ritual.

Emiya Shirou and Illyasviel von Einzbern kneeled in front of their Elder as he spoke to them for what may be the last time they will ever be able to do so.

"For the past five months our family, the Einzberns, has been tirelessly preparing to the utmost of our ability, what could be considered as the single biggest venture our family had had to partake in," Elder Jubstacheit spoke towards the two children of Emiya. It wasn't an order or a question, it was a statement of fact.

"One thousand strong homunculi ready and awaiting your orders, standing by in the castle that we have built in the city of Sighisoara, all of the Einzbern's secrets crafted onto young Illyasviel's magical crest, the latest and highest form of technology along with magically crafted weaponry and artillery for Emiya, and all the resources that we could put together that we believe may be useful as the battle progresses"

"Emiya Shirou. Illyasviel von Einzbern. This is the greatest aid the Einzberns can grant you," the Elder said.

"I am honored, Elder," Shirou replied respectfully.

"Utilize the relic that your father has given to you which you have used to summon your servant for the previous Holy Grail Wars. With it as your catalyst, you will be able to summon what may be the strongest sword-wielding Heroic Spirit that perhaps could be one of the strongest servants in the war," the Elder spoke.

"With two of the strongest servants under Einzbern control, victory should be certain"

"Destroy Yggdmillennia and complete the Third Magic, Heaven's Feel"

"The Einzbern has been denied Heaven's Feel for more than a century, there can be no compromise any longer," the Elder continued.

"Emiya Shirou. Illyasviel von Einzbern. You have both proven yourselves as honorary members of household Einzbern. From this day forward, Einzbern is more than proud and honored to have the both of you as its heirs, whether you have Einzbern blood or not," the Elder declared.

The declaration almost stung Shirou with honor. For the first time in his life he was finally admitted as a proud member of the Einzberns instead of the simple 'adopted' son of Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel von Einzbern. Ilya smiled to herself happily at this declaration, her own eyes seemed almost to be ready to well up with happiness. Finally, her brother was going to get the respect and treatment he deserved.

"Thank you Elder," the two children of Emiya replied simultaneously.

"Rise now, and prepare for the summoning ritual. We have prepared as best as we can. We can no longer wait idly any more. We will win the Holy Grail War," Elder Jubstacheit declared.

* * *

><p>On top of a hill in the western part of Fuyuki and an hour walk from the Tohsaka mansion stood the Fuyuki Church. It was constructed way earlier during the 1800s when Christians first migrated to Japan and practiced their religion in secret. Standing on one of the prime leylines of Fuyuki, the Church was the supposed evocation site of the Grail during the Second Holy Grail War.<p>

Now the mages of Fuyuki assembled here once again, not as opponents or enemies, but as comrades and acquaintances in order to reclaim the stolen Holy Grail.

Tohsaka Rin eyed the elder Matou sibling with accusing eyes.

Why was he here? As far as she knew, the Matous were only able to send in one master to the war and it was already confirmed that Sakura will be accompanying them instead of her no-good brother, Shinji.

Shinji sat arrogantly at the opposite end of a wooden bench with his feet on top whiles Sakura sat a few rows behind him with a worried face. Rin sat across on a wooden bench at the opposite end away from the Matou siblings, wearing her signature long red coat over her school uniform.

The three of them were the only people currently present in the Church. They came there directly after school ended because Shiro had something important to discuss before they departed for Trifas on the day after tomorrow.

"How long is this preacher going to make me wait? It's not like we have all day to loiter around, some of us have important things to do," Shinji bickered. Rin looked annoyed at Shinji's remark.

'That damn bastard, he wasn't even invited to this meeting in the first place, what did he have to complain about?' Rin thought. Her eyes darted towards Sakura who seemed a bit nervous for reasons she didn't know about.

'Well, at least she looks ok. I hope Shinji hasn't been treating her badly'

"Hey, nobody invited you to come along! I don't even get it sometimes how Shiro could even stand with that attitude of yours, he's already working his hardest for this war," Rin bellowed to the older Matou.

"Hmmphh," Shinji smirked back at Rin.

"It wasn't my fault that I had to come to this god-forsaken church. Kotomine-kun was the one who came to our house and begged to that worm so that Sakura would be allowed to pull out from the war," Shinji said with a hint of annoyance.

"He what?!" Rin said, almost surprised.

"You heard me. He literally begged, saying that she wasn't ready for it, even going as far as suggesting someone else in the family to take her place"

"Seriously, Kotomine-kun looked so pathetic, no beyond pathetic, he was hopeless. That was why I had to step in, I couldn't just sit around when one of my friends were begging like that, although that still didn't solve the problem of not allowing Sakura to pull out," Shinji mocked.

"Ha ha ha. You should feel honored that one with my talents will be participating in this Great Holy Grail War as a master on your faction. With me on your side victory will be a piece of cake," Shinji boasted.

"As if," Rin said, ignoring his prideful attitude. Shinji gritted his teeth in annoyance with how Rin easily pushed him away. Rin then looked towards Sakura.

"Is it true Sakura?" Rin asked. Sakura looked towards the ground, unease at the whole debacle between Rin and Shinji. She took a few seconds before fearfully replying.

"Senpai came to our house last month and asked to meet grandfather, Tohsaka-Senpai," Sakura said nervously.

"They talked for a while before grandfather finally called for me and Onii-san," Sakura continued.

"Senpai expressed his worry about me and then asked whether grandfather could find a replacement, another family member. However grandfather insisted that I had to go, so Senpai instead asked whether someone else could fight in my place, and that's when Onii-san offered himself," Sakura explained sadly.

"Sen….pai….." she uttered solemnly.

Rin put her hand on her forehead and tried to contemplate what she just heard. Of course, it was typical of Shiro to go out of his way and asked that Sakura be replaced with anyone else, the guy was a bad liar and was even worse when it came to putting people close to him like Sakura in danger's way.

She could even recall that he tried talking to her own mother two months ago to order her to give away her rights as a master after he wasn't able to persuade her to quit after knowing that Yggdmillennia was able to summon their second servant. This got him whacked in the head and brutally assaulted by Rin until she could screw him with some sense that she wasn't going to let one of her best friends go on some suicide crusade alone no matter what.

Rin sighed.

Kotomine Shiro. It was hard to hate the guy. He had an innocent smile and a strong belief that good will eventually triumph over evil. Coupled that with a character that would always try to forgive a person and help one in need, it was almost impossible to hate the guy even if he did something bizarrely stupid.

There was even that one time when they were younger, he told Rin that if she got bitten by a dead apostle that wandered in Fuyuki, she could hide away in the Fuyuki Church and drink his blood as he would try and find a cure.

For heaven's sake, there was a limit to how far idiocy could go, but that was almost beyond stupidity, that was just plain insane. When she thought back about it now, it was blatantly disregarding the feelings of the people that cared about him.

Rin almost thought that Shiro had some kind hero-complex, he denied this of course. He said that heroes go around the world creating their own legends where people would applaud and praise them for their powers, while he was simply grateful to staying in Fuyuki and doing what little good he can with the powers that were bestowed upon him.

Clearly, she didn't need to look far in order to search for any other messianic archetype, there was one right here in Fuyuki.

Rin looked towards Sakura in worry. She knew that the young Matou had an unrequited crush on Shiro, she had to be blind to not notice from the way she acted in front of her. Always coming to Church when he performed his weekly mass, helped with the cleaning of it and even went out of her way to make a bento for Shiro when he came to school, though she wasn't good at it at first, she's gradually improving.

Rin was trying her best to keep her distance from Shiro so that he would notice Sakura more, but that was almost impossible since both of their duties required them to interact with one another and Shiro was one of her father's pupil. It wasn't like she harbored feelings for Shiro or whatever, he was her closest friend and secret keeper and it was only natural for them to meet up a lot, right?

Although now that she thought about it, anyone who had Shiro as a boyfriend would have been extremely lucky.

'Wait….why am I thinking about this?!' Rin's face redden and she quickly tried to compose herself from her thoughts.

The door from the back of the Church opened and in came Kotomine Shiro balancing a stack of packages.

Speak of the devil, or maybe in this case, the angel.

"Sorry guys for letting you wait for me," Shiro said entering the main gathering hall of the Fuyuki Church where Rin, Sakura and Shinji were waiting. He went ahead to the front and placed the packages on the table at the head.

"Hmmphhh, took your time. If you had come any later I would have already left. You do know I'm a busy person Kotomine-kun," Shinji smirked.

"Yes, yes. My apologizes Shinji," Shiro said kindly.

"I was trying to get all of this out from the basement storage. The Magus Association had just sent it to me a few days ago," Shiro said.

"What is it Senpai?" Sakura asked, even Rin went over to the front to have a good look at the packages. Shiro gave a brilliant smile towards Sakura at the question, glad that she was eager to know.

"These are the holy relics I ordered for what we would be using as the catalyst for our summoning ritual," Shiro said proudly.

Rin beamed up at this, even she was mesmerized by the fact that she will be given an actual object from the Age of Heroes. She half thought that the Magus Association would leave them out in the summoning ritual and let them solve that problem by themselves. Even Shinji lifted an eye at Shiro's statement.

"H-how were you able to get it? I thought it was almost impossible to find any remaining catalyst with all the Fake Holy Grail Wars about and running?" Rin asked.

"With a lot of hard work and shameless pleading at the Association. It turned out that most of the things I wanted was stored in the vaults of the Eighth Sacrament. I have to tell you, getting these artifacts and relics was no easy task. Due to their ancient age, they were prone to breaking if not treated, so that's why I kept them until the last minute," Shiro explained.

"Hmmphhh, you wasted your effort Kotomine-kun. People like me don't need relics for the summoning ritual, we're already powerful enough to summon a strong servant for ourselves," Shinji sneered. This got Rin really annoyed with Shinji.

"I swear to God that if you don't shut up that blasted mouth of yours I will put a curse on you," Rin threatened.

"Why is he here?!" Rin asked Shiro.

"Calm down Rin. I'll explain that to you later," Shiro tried diffusing the arguments between the two.

"I know that both the Matous and the Tohsakas have great potential and are sure to be able to summon powerful Heroic Spirits, with or without a catalyst. But I thought that considering our current strength, it may be best if we chose specific Heroic Spirits that could compliment ourselves and one another. We will be working as a team after all," Shiro said.

"You've been studying all this time about Heroic Spirits?!" Rin asked, amazed that Shiro thought that far ahead. The plan made sense. Even if she were to be able to summon a really strong Heroic Spirit with her own power, the odds were that it would be completely random and wouldn't consider the strength and weaknesses of her teammate's servants.

In addition, if they all randomly summoned any servant they could then there would be a high tendency that some of the Heroes wouldn't work well with one another, due to things like the heroes came from the same time and had a grudge against one another, it wasn't uncommon that both two rivalling factions in history had great heroes. One such example would be the heroes from the Trojan War. If she were to summon anyone from the faction of Troy then it would be bad if any of her comrades were to summon a hero from the faction of the Myrmidons.

Inversely, if they focused all their attention into summoning heroes that were already compatible with one another and had worked with one another in the past, say, the Knights of the Round Table or the Argonauts, then cooperation and teamwork would be a non-issue. However, getting all of the servants to be from the same timeline, or even the same history could prove to be hard. There wouldn't be enough summoning catalyst for all of them to share, and it's almost impossible since they couldn't coordinate with the Einzberns on what servants they had already summoned.

It would also prove dangerous if a heroic spirit from the same legend was summoned on the opposing faction. That would allow Yggdmillennia to instantly recognize every single one of their servants and their weaknesses.

So the best course of action, as hard as it was, would be to study all the legends and make their team as diverse and compatible with one another as much as they could.

Rin couldn't be more proud with Shiro for his hard work and brilliant strategy. She didn't want to admit it, but if she were to be the one that had to lead their band in this crusade she didn't think she could be able to hold everyone together, especially when she had to team up with Shinji Matou of all people, coupled that with the fact that the two Einzbern masters were complete strangers and one of them was a living monster.

"Like I said, it took me a very, very, very long time and a lot of hard work to prepare for all of this. I'm certainly not planning on loosing, not after all this," Shiro replied with a determined gaze. Rin smiled at this, and even Sakura gave a simple smile at Shiro's determination.

"Hmmphhh, since you put it that way, I guess I have no reason to not accept that catalyst, though I'm sure even without it I'll still be able to win this Holy Grail War," Shinji said mockingly.

God, she felt like she wanted to punch that guy.

"Thanks Shinji, I really appreciate it," Shiro said with a smile.

How in the world could Shiro stand by and allow Shinji to mock him? He really had to be a saint to forgive someone to that level.

Shiro started handing over the packages that contained the relics that they'll be using as the catalyst for the summoning ritual. He took a small package and gave it to Sakura.

"Here you go Sakura. I personally chose this Heroic Spirit for you, I thought the two of you would be compatible with one another. It's a servant from the Archer class if you're wondering," Shirou said happily.

Rin could understand why Shiro would want to give the Archer class servant to Sakura. For one it meant that she or Shinji didn't need to be present at the battlefield in order to command their servant since their servant was long ranged, making sure that at least either wouldn't be in the midst of danger. Secondly was the fact that the Archer class had the 'Independent Action' Skill, this meant that Sakura didn't need to worry about mana reserves for her servant which even Rin thought was a smart decision since they didn't know how good the Matous reserves were and it was also common knowledge by now that their lineage was dying out.

"Th-thank you Senpai," She accepted the package, as they came face to face, Sakura couldn't stop herself from blushing in front of Shiro and then stumbling back to her seat. She almost feel while coming down from the pedestal where Shiro stood.

"Hmmppph, clumsy girl," Shinji remarked. Shiro ignored this and instead looked back towards Sakura with a content expression. Then he proceed to hand over Rin the biggest package that was on the table.

"For Rin, I thought you wanted somebody who could fight both mid-to-short range yet at the same time able to take hits. This was something I got from the Association, it's a shield from the Trojan War," Shiro said, handing the package to Rin. She accepted it, and held onto the package. It wasn't heavy for all her fear.

Shiro said that she would be summoning a mid-to-short range fighting hero, maybe he was considering to get her a servant from the Lancer or Rider class since Shiro knew she would go into a fight head on yet attack from a distance with her spells. She would need someone that could come to her quickly if she was in danger yet fight well in close ranged because just like Shiro she would be on the battlefield supporting their respective servants. She would have loved to summon the Saber class servant if she could since it was considered the best class overall, but she couldn't be picky and selfish, she had to become a team player.

He really had thought things through. Considering their own fighting styles, strengths, abilities, skills and weaknesses. If she didn't know Shiro any better, Rin would have thought that he was actually well verse with military tactics and strategy, even going for the idea that he had past experience with commanding an army. But that couldn't be possible since he was only seventeen and the Church would never send him to war at such a young age, let alone become a commander.

"That leaves the Saber, Berserker, Caster, Assassin and depending on what I got, Lancer or Rider left for you to summon," Rin pointed out, stating the regular servants that would make up their team. Shiro went to the backside and took out a black board. The black board had a line drawn in the middle with the words 'Black' and 'White' in English at the top between the middle line.

"This is a spirit board that is synchronized to the Holy Grail War in Trifas the Association gave to me," Shiro said. He let the board stand on the table so all could see.

Under the title of 'Black' there was the classes of two servants, Lancer and Caster, while under the 'White' title was a single class servant, Berserker.

"It tells which servant has already been summoned," he continued.

"So this was how you knew that Yggdmillennia had already summoned Caster," Rin pointed out, amazed at the board.

"Yep. As you can see, there's already a Berserker class that was summoned on our team, the 'White' faction. It was summoned two months ago around the same time the Caster servant from the 'Black' faction was summoned," Shiro said.

'I'm pretty sure that Berserker was summoned by the Einzberns, I don't know how they or even Yggdmillennia could summon a servant that early, but I guess being close to the Grail and knowing how the Grail works had its benefits," Shirou continued.

"We can be sure that Berserker was summoned by Illyasviel von Einzbern, the heiress sent by the Einzbern and that the son of the Magus Killer, Faker-" Shiro didn't say his name for obvious reasons Rin thought.

"-will surely attempt to summon the same servant he has been summoning in the past fake Holy Grail Wars he has entered, the Saber class servant," he pointed out.

Both Berserker and Saber, the two strongest servants in terms of raw power will be under the control of the Einzberns?! That was totally unfair, Rin thought. Who did they think they were? All three families should have an equal opportunity to summon the strongest servant, and usually the most reliable master they had on their team should be the one to summon the strongest servant.

"Because of that, I'll be summoning a servant hopefully from the Caster class or if I'm unlucky the Assassin class," Shiro said. Rin could almost not believe his choice of servant.

"Wait a minute Shiro. Both the Caster and the Assassin class servants are considered as one of the weakest servants in the Holy Grail War. The majority of Heroic Spirits either have a high enough Magic Resistance or could stand up against a surprise attack. Shouldn't you be trying to summon a servant like Saber or Lancer since you'll be fighting at the frontlines as well?" Rin asked worried.

"That's right Rin, but I can't be selfish in this matter. Emiya will surely summon a saber class servant whether I like it or not, and I have a gut feeling that McRemitz wouldn't fit well with a Caster or an Assassin class servant since she'll also be in the frontlines fighting, this leaves me with very few limited options," Shiro explained.

"This is not fair Shiro! If anyone had to summon the Assassin or the Caster servant it should be the son of the Magus Killer since his modus operandi is to kill the masters first before engaging the servant. You should try to at least contact the Einzberns before they summon their servant and swap their catalyst with yours," Rin said furiously, not satisfied with the fact that Shiro was allowing something like this to happen. If anything of Shiro's plan had proven so far, it would be that summoning the right servant that was most compatible with the master was the difference between life and death. She couldn't just stand idly while her best friend forgave the Einzberns because they just wanted to be able to have the two strongest servants in the war, that was just plain selfish.

"Look Rin, there's no way to contact the Einzberns. They are even closed off from the Magus Association and word can only get to them through their heirs that study there. And I'm not going to compromise you or Sakura just because I could have a better servant," Shiro said.

"B-but if-" Rin said before she was interjected by Shiro.

"If something happens to me and I get into trouble then I'll need you to watch my back. Isn't that how it is? We work as a team and protect each other," Shiro said, stopping Rin in her tracks.

"Senpai. Will you be alright Senpai?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine Sakura. And look, it isn't like we're all going to be separated. Stop thinking like this is similar to the normal Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars. It's a seven versus seven battle, which means you may have to take command of my servant as much as I would have to take command of yours. We work as a team," Shiro tried convincing Rin.

"Damn Einzberns. Ok you've got a point Shiro," she said defeated. Rin felt a bit disappointed but readily accept Shiro's judgment.

"As the representative of the Church, I'll be acting as a mediator and a focal point for the chain of command. I may be the one who'll be formulating the plans and strategy for us to win the Holy Grail since I'm the only one who had any past experience in a huge scale battle, so having Caster or Assassin as my servant might just compliment that role," Shiro continued on trying to convince Rin.

"Hmmmphh, well I for one don't mind what servant Kotomine summons. It is clear that my servant will be the one to win us the Holy Grail," Shinji smirked then laughed at the both Rin and Shiro at their antics.

Rin's patience was already thinning and she was already considering whether she should just attempt to do a friendly fire to show who among the two of them the better magus were. The only thing that was keeping her at check was Shiro's acceptance of the whole situation. How could he be so calm? Doesn't he realize that we are going to be fighting against some of the strongest beings to walk the planet?

"Things will work out Rin, don't worry," he said with the brightest smile he could muster.

"Hmpphhh, well if that's all there is, then I'm heading back home. Sakura come on," Shinji said, standing up and exiting the Church. Sakura followed behind with the relic that Shiro gave her, holding it close to her chest protectively with one hand as if it would shatter at the slightest force.

"Shinji! Don't forget, we're leaving for Trifas the day after tomorrow. That means you should summon your servant tonight!" Shiro called over to Shinji as he exited the Church.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. shiiisssh," Shinji responded.

Before Sakura could go any further, Shiro went over to her and grabbed her hand, stopping her any further.

"Sakura, I've talked with Zouken and he told me about your condition," Shiro said gently to her, in a low enough voice so Shinji couldn't hear them. The fact that Shiro knew about her 'condition' shocked Sakura, her face paled and she looked like she was about to cry.

"He told me about how you're having problems with your Sorcery Trait and that you can't access much prana because of that," the explanation Shiro gave made Sakura relaxed a bit.

"If you need anything, and I mean anything, don't hesitate to call me, ok?" Shiro said giving her a smile.

"Y-yes Senpai. Thank you Senpai," she said to him and politely bowed to him in gratitude.

"Hurry up Sakura, dinner won't make it by itself," Shinji bellowed angrily.

"Ah sorry onii-san, I'm coming," she replied back.

"Tohsaka Senpai, Shiro Senpai, thank you so much, I will see you later then," Sakura said her goodbyes then proceed to follow her brother back home.

"Good bye Sakura," Rin said.

"Bye Sakura. And remember, we're going to Trifas in two days, summoning of servants is tonight!" Shiro shouted, reminding her as she rushed back home.

That left Shiro and Rin alone at the Church.

They remained silent for a moment before Shiro finally spoke up.

"Your previous question, about why Shinji will be following us," Shiro said to Rin which got her startled for a moment.

"Umm, yes about that. Why in the world is that guy following us? We don't even know what he's capable of, he might not even be able to fight. He's so pathetic," Rin complained furiously. She wasn't keen to the idea of fighting alongside Shinji Matou and trust him with her life, she'll swap Shinji with Shiro any day.

"He's coming because I requested it," Shiro said calmly.

"What?" Rin asked confused.

"Sakura isn't a fighter, we both know that. She has good aptitude as a magus, but doesn't have the right mindset if she needed to fight. And she may not be able to take command of her servant in the midst of battle. So, I brought this up to their grandfather, Zouken. I tried asking so that Sakura could pull out and get replaced with someone else, but he wouldn't allow that since Sakura was also the heiress of the Matou clan's magecraft. And there was another serious problem when I requested for Shinji to substitute Sakura in the Grail War-" he said calmly.

"And that is?" Rin asked.

"You might not believe it, but Shinji isn't a magus, he doesn't have any magical potential what so ever," Shiro explained.

What?! All that blabber and the guy wasn't even a magus to begin with. Ohh she's going to have fun poking Shinji with this.

"Please, don't tease him because of that. Being a magus or being able to perform magecraft doesn't make one more or less than any other person," Shiro said as if he could read what was on Rin's mind.

"Hmmpphh, alright," Rin obeyed.

"So asking Shinji to substitute was impossible. So me and Zouken thought of another idea, well it was mainly Zouken's idea because he was more versed with the servant-master system," Shiro went on.

"We would allow Sakura to summon the servant and become the one supplying the prana, but Shinji would be the one with the command spells and commanding the servant," Shiro explained.

"Is that possible?" Rin asked. A few other things were in her mind like who was the master in that instance? Or what would happen if Sakura was in danger? Can she call upon her servant?

"I really don't know Rin, but I guess they knew how to make it possible," Shiro said indifferently.

"….and that's why Shinji will be following us to Trifas," Shiro finally concluded.

"Huh, if you put it that way, it's hard to argue. But just so you know, I don't like teaming up with Shinji, he's dead weight," Rin said.

"You don't have to like him let alone trust him, you just need to know that he's arrogant enough that he'll get the job done," Shiro remarked. Rin smiled at Shiro's way of mocking Shinji. Even while trying to downgrade somebody he tried doing it in the most polite way.

Yes, it was really a good idea to have teamed up with Kotomine Shiro. If she could trust anyone with her life, it would be him.

"Well then, I'll be heading back home. It's almost dark," Rin said, breaking the silence. She would love to stay with Shiro for a while and keep him company but they had a ritual to enact and a Heroic Spirit to summon.

"Say hi to Aoi for me and tell her that I won't be coming over for dinner tonight, for, you know…." Shiro said.

"Yeah, yeah. And Shiro…." Rin looked towards the young priest, wanting to say something but instead thought against it.

"Thanks," Rin finally said, then she took the package that contained her summoning catalyst and headed back home.

The only one left now at the Fuyuki Church was Shiro.

"No. Thank you, Tohsaka Rin. Because of you, my wish will finally be granted," Kotomine Shiro said in an inaudible voice to himself as Rin left him there. He gave himself a smile and took his relic back to the basement where he would be preparing for his own summoning ritual.

* * *

><p>It was two hours past midnight, the Fortress of Millennia watched down over the city of Trifas as it slumbered peacefully, oblivious of the machinations inside. Standing beside the castle window, a man that looked to be in his prime looked outwards towards the peaceful city. The eyes of the man, watching over the utter stillness of the streets below, burned with a silent resolve. He had a wish he wanted to fulfil.<p>

The man's name was Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, and he was the elder, the leader of the Yggdmillennia clan. During the Third Holy Grail War held in Fuyuki, he participated as a magus, siding with the Nazis, and was the one who instructed that the Greater Grail be transported to Germany.

But that was more than sixty years ago, and yet even after more than six decades there still was not a single wrinkle on his otherwise, youthful face. If one were to guess his age based on his appearance, he would have been in his late twenties. It would seemed that, for Darnic, the Elder of Yggdmillennia, time had stopped since the Third Holy Grail War.

He smiled to himself in content.

"Yes, everything has been for the sake of this very day," he whispered to himself.

There were a thousand different emotions that surged through those words. After all, he has been preparing for over sixty years. Ever since the last Holy Grail War in Fuyuki he has been putting everything in order for this day to come, plotting discreetly so not to rouse suspicion.

His only regret was allowing the information regarding the Fuyuki Holy Grail War and its blueprints to spread causing fake Holy Grail Wars to emerge all over the world and holy relics that could have acted as catalyst to disappear or destroyed after use. It was impossible now to find any relic that could be traced back from the greatest heroes of legends such as the Knights of the Round Table or the Argonauts, in time all of these catalyst spread out and were lost.

Of course, this didn't mean that Yggdmillennia didn't have any relics of their own. Darnic knew the time will come when they will have to participate in the Holy Grail War, and thus, over the decades he has been ordering the clan to gather their own holy relics, enough to summon their own Heroic Spirits. The Association may have the advantage of resources and a wide influence, but Yggdmillennia had the advantage of time to find the relics they needed.

And tonight, all of that preparation will come to fruition. They will attempt to simultaneously summon four more servants, giving them a total of six servants. Another of their master's will be joining them from Tokyo soon, and by then all seven will have assembled.

Tonight, Yggdmillennia will light the beacon of rebellion and succeed the Magus Association.

Clock Tower had attempted to exterminate them after their declaration of succession and in their attempt to do so, they were the first to feel the powers of the servant he was able to summon. Lancer took barely half a minute to annihilate fifty experienced magi that Clock Tower sent. The show was simply wonderful.

The only thing that Darnic didn't expect was that one surviving magus would activate the reserve system, though in a way he was prepared for that as well. At least during this war it would be a battle of seven servants versus seven opposing servants, an equally well balanced war.

The Association will try to attempt to summon their own high-ranking Heroic Spirits, but no matter how much they try, their servant would not possess any greater fame in Romania than his Lancer. Within the last five months, Lancer has been making full use of his abilities to transform Trifas and the surrounding areas into a land where he would have the most advantage.

As long as he was within this territory, Lancer received boosts in the ranks of all of his parameters, and his Noble Phantasm becomes usable. The only difficulty was the Servant's somewhat obstinate nature. However, Darnic was hopeful that, with their goals being the same, this will not prove to be a problem.

They were able to intercept information concerning who the enemy will be employing for the war. Darnic almost laughed at who the Association were sending. Was this the best force the fearsome Clock Tower could muster? Almost all of the masters from the so called 'Alliance of Magus' formed by the Clock Tower were children. Did they thought Yggdmillennia was such an easy force to overcome that they thought they could send children to fight against them?

However, after reviewing most of the information, he had to give the Association some credit. They were able to gather masters from all three of the founding families, maybe even using their drive for vengeance against his clan as a motivation. They may have the better understanding of the working of the Grail, but they will all suffer a fatal handicap of having to personally provide prana for their servants. Darnic had devised to solve this handicap and with that Yggdmillennia's victory was certain.

At the sound of creaking wheels, Darnic turned around.

"...It's nearly time, Grandfather," said the girl in the wheelchair in a soft and clear voice as she smiled. Darnic smiled back, as though infected by the girl's sweetness.

"Are you well, Fiore?" Darnic asked.

"I'm all right. My little brother seems a bit restless, though," Fiore said.

Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia was the only magus within the Yggdmillennia clan that Darnic believed had any true talent, and thus she was appointed as Darnic's successor.

Generally, there were two kinds of 'geniuses' in the world. Either one was so gifted as to be able to master a vast range of studies, or one was in possession of a terrifyingly deep wealth of talent in a single field.

Fiore was the latter. Although she was weak at most types of thaumaturgy, in the fields of spiritual evocation and human engineering, her skills rival or even surpassed the first-class instructors of the Clock Tower.

Over the many generations of thickening the blood in the Yddgmillennia clan, it was mostly likely that no magus had appeared with a greater aptitude than her.

"Who could have expected that the Command Seals would appear on both of you at the same time? If we were under the original system of the Holy Grail War, this would have led to a tragedy," Darnic stated.

"...Yes. I guess it would," Fiore muttered.

To magi, it was common sense for teacher and pupil, or even siblings, to go for each other's throats when met with a conflict of interests. However, that would not have been the case for Fiore and her brother, as there was simply too great of a difference in power between them. It would only have ended unilaterally with Fiore murdering him as he cowered in fear.

Truly, it would have been a tragedy.

"I heard that the Association has assembled their own forces," Fiore said worriedly.

Darnic gave a wry smile and nodded. If you wanted to call that rag-tag bunch of children as a force then the battle may be over sooner than one would expect.

"So, it's finally starting then," Fiore said.

"Yes, starting from today, the servants will do battle and the Great Holy Grail War will begin. And with it, we, Yggdmillennia shall take into our hands all the mysteries and miracles of the world!" Darnic declared.

Fiore nodded in agreement, but she looked a bit nervous. She wasn't one who liked to battle, but the fear of her grandfather was too much and the opportunity to be granted any wish was something that she couldn't look away. She had to resolve her inner conflict no matter what. There was something deep inside her that she earnestly wanted and hoped that by achieving the Grail, that wish may be fulfilled.

"Now, let us head to the throne room and summon the heroes who will become our swords and shields," Darnic said.

"Yes grandfather," Fiore complied.

By the time they reached the throne room, where the ritual would take place, four other Masters have already gathered. There were also homunculi taking care of various menial tasks and silently bringing in the required thaumaturgical tools.

The magic ward itself had already been drawn. It used a mixture of gold and silver, kept in a liquid state by a temperature-retaining technique. This complex and delicate ward was devised to summon multiple Servants at once.

Everyone came to an abrupt stop at Darnic's and Fiore's arrival. Darnic then proceeded to stand next to the throne and declared with arms outspread.

"Sixty years we have been planning for this day. Sixty years we have been preparing. Sixty years we have had to live under the shadow of the Association and their corruption. And now that time will finally come to an end," he declared as everyone listened to him in awe.

"Place the catalyst you have each gathered upon the altar"

The masters nodded. And one by one, each of the four magus placed their catalyst on the altar.

First was a portly man, by the name of Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia. With a single look at his expression, one could tell that he was a pompous man. His craft was alchemy. And his catalyst was kept in a case, perhaps due to its value, or not wanting the other Masters to see it. He looked a bit disappointed at the catalyst that he was holding, maybe he wasn't able to obtain the one he wanted.

Secondly was the girl in the wheelchair and Darnic's successor, Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia. She placed an ancient arrow with its tip blackened by what seemed to be blood.

The third one was Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia. She studied the dark arts. Despite her clean-cut appearance, her entire body reeked of blood; likely it was due to her kissing the innards taken from the bellies of beasts and humans to be used as sacrifices. Her catalyst was what seemed to be a cloth of a saint with the white and red colors fading over the centuries.

The last master to place his catalyst was Caules, the younger brother of Fiore. With the freckles on his childish face, one would not think that he was seventeen years-old. Diffidently, he muttered the spell for the summoning of Heroic Spirits over and over again. His catalyst was an old piece of paper. On it was drawn a human figure, with the words 'the perfect human' scribbled in the lower right corner.

There was another member of Yggdmillennia, Roche Frain Yggdmillennia. But he had already summoned a servant, Caster of Black two months ago. He watched with interest at his other clan members attempt at their summoning ritual. He was likely the youngest master, being only thirteen years old.

"Rare of you to leave your workshop, Roche," Darnic called on the youngest master.

"Well, this is the summoning ritual of Heroic Spirits. You would be lucky just to see it once in your whole life. Even I'd leave my workshop if I can see it a second time," he shrugged at his elder.

Roche summoned Caster two months ago, and because of their similar interest, he and Caster have been spending their entire time, not coming out at all and even having their meals sent to them, choosing to instead manufacture the golems they would need for the Great Holy Grail War in their workshop within the castle.

"Where is Caster?" Darnic inquired.

"Oh, Caster will be coming soon. He's a bit busy with the design of his Noble Phantasm," Roche replied. Although he called him as his designated servant class when talking to everyone else about his servant, Roche would usually address Caster as his 'master', since he believed that the legends that Caster brought forth were something that was worthy to be worshipped of.

Said servant materialized next to Roche before long, appearing in his blue mantle and full body suit, wearing an eyeless, featureless mask. One had to wonder whether he ever opened his mask during his lifetime, since he would never be able to eat while wearing it. Roche called out to his teacher in joy, and Caster nodded without muttering a single word.

Confirming the positions of the four masters who would be summoning their servants tonight, Darnic lowered his head in reverence towards the empty throne, as if someone was actually sitting in it.

"My Lord, we will now begin the summoning," he said politely towards the empty throne.

'_...Very well,_' a reply came into Darnic's mind.

Particles of light gathered on the throne, massing together and creating a human form. The man whom Darnic called 'Lord' was dressed in royal fashion, black as the shadow of the night. By contrast, his face was horrifically pale, and his silk-like white hair stretched long over his shoulders.

The instant he appeared, the air in the throne room became tense. When the man stood, one could feel overwhelming pressure; wherever he looked, there seemed to be ceaseless trembling. That effect wasn't because he was some kind of tyrant or cruel barbarian, but because of the overwhelming power one could feel emanating from him that could make anyone tremble in fear.

He was Yggdmillennia's strongest trump card summoned by Darnic, Vlad III the Impaler, who was the Black faction's Lancer class servant.

The greatest hero of Transylvania, known fearsomely as the 'Impaling Prince' to the Turks, was also famous for another name across the world that everyone was more familiar of.

The Little Dragon... or, the vampire Count Dracula.

Of course, the one before them was not a vampire at all. He was a man of devotion, and a hero who ascended to the throne, no matter how small the nation may be. Especially here in Romania, where his deeds of turning back the numerous invasions of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks who had trampled over every other country, made him a great hero.

And as long as he was in Romania, he had possibly the greatest fame of all. A match even for the mighty Heracles of Greece, or the noble King Arthur of Britain.

After glancing at Darnic and acknowledging him, Lancer's majestic voice echoed through the chamber.

"Now, call forth the Heroic Spirits who would serve under me!" his voice boomed.

"As you wish, my Lord," Darnic replied with a respectful bow. Then he turned his attention and announced to the remaining four Masters.

"Let us begin, proud magi of Yggdmillennia. With the completion of this ritual, we take our first step onto the path of war that which we will never be able to return from. Do you possess the resolve to continue?!"

The four gathered Masters kept silent, all but one had an unshaken resolved to participate in the war.

* * *

><p>Caules nervously looked towards his Elder then towards the Impaling Prince. His mind was still considering the idea on whether he actually belonged here. He quietly mumbled to himself the lines needed for the summoning ritual, especially the part needed to implant the 'Berserk' attribute on his servant since he was told to summon Berserker.<p>

'Is this really the right thing for me to do?' Caules thought. His mind was still wondering whether it was a good idea for him to be here, especially with the fact that the Holy Grail War was something important to the clan and he didn't want to screw it up.

Maybe it would be best if he switched places with somebody else, someone more capable, there were many other clan members besides him that were more skilled with magecraft than himself. Maybe he could ask Darnic whether he could postpone his summoning ritual so that he could find someone else. And why did everyone seemed so calm and resolve about going into battle? They did know there will be a war right? Fiore knew this right?

His eyes stared at her sister. She too had that calm and resolved look as everyone else, ready to summon her servant and fight in the war. 'What was going on her mind?' Caules thought. He still had a hard time believing that such a simple ritual could summon such a strong being.

He shook his head, trying to eliminate anymore doubt or worry he previously had. If Fiore had the resolve to enter the Holy Grail War, then he had to have it as well.

This was it, Caules told himself. If his sister was entering it, then so would he.

There was no turning back.

* * *

><p>Emiya Shirou inspected the summoning circle that he had drawn. Standing next to him was his sister, Ilya along with her servant Berserker in spirit form.<p>

All the essential points on the circle seemed to be in perfect order, he told himself. It felt almost nostalgic having to do this ritual for one more time.

"You're going to summon her again, Onii-chan?" Ilya asked Shirou.

"I've summoned her in the past three wars I've entered, there's no reason not to. We make quite a good team and there's no one else I could think of that I would trust my life with," Shirou replied confidently.

"But would she still remember you? I mean, will she be the same person you summoned before?" Ilya continued to ask.

"Well, I don't know how she did it or why, but she's different than other servants, you'll understand when you meet her," Shirou replied. He was looking forward to the summoning ritual. He always looked forward to any of the summoning rituals that he performed in the many Holy Grail Wars he had entered. Ever since the first time he saw his father summoned and introduced him to her, he felt a pull towards his late servant that was indescribable with words.

"Don't you need a relic or some kind of summoning catalyst?" Ilya asked again, she seemed almost excited as he was for the summoning ritual. It wasn't like every day one would be able to witness it and maybe only Shirou was the only one to perform it multiple times.

"I have it," he said. Then he brought his hand over where his heart was.

"It's right here," he pointed, lightly tapping where his heart was. Ilya looked dumbfound at his brother's reply.

"Will it be ok if Berserker was here? I don't want them to suddenly fight each other, Berserker is quite protective of you," Shirou said.

"Ahh, don't worry Onii-chan, I've already told Berserker to not worry, he won't attack your precious servant," Ilya said cheekily.

Emiya Shirou stood up, and looked over towards the summoning circle one last time.

There was no turning back now. He and Ilya had come far to reach here. Once upon a time their parents stood here, performing the same exact ritual in order to search for the same exact relic that was stolen from their family decades ago. That task now fell upon Shirou and Ilya and now they will finally end that long journey.

His powers were at its peak, his body was at its strongest and he had never felt more prepared in his life.

It was time.

* * *

><p>Kotomine Shiro was alone in the basement of the Fuyuki Church.<p>

He carved out the summoning circle in the middle of the room and placed the relic he had obtained on the altar in front. Depending on the circumstances he would be summoning either a Caster or an Assassin class servant. He couldn't care less which one he would call upon. Regardless which one, he would have to compensate and trust in Rin and Sakura to watch his back.

He had to agree with Rin, he didn't like Shinji accompanying them, but it was better him than some unknown of a master sent by the Magus Association. That way, winning the grail would be less tedious. There were already a few unknowns in his plan to win the Grail such as the Einzbern masters, especially the one that shared his name, Emiya Shirou, the Faker.

But Kotomine Shiro was confident in himself. He will persuade the both of them to follow his lead in winning the Grail, he knew he could do it. And if they didn't understand his ideals, like what everyone perceived the Einzberns to be, then he will deal with them accordingly.

"_So, God. Give me another chance. This time, I won't lose sight of the bigger picture. I will eliminate all obstacles, enemies and hardships in my way. Next time, I will obtain all the good in the world. A world where everyone is happy, everyone is good, and everyone is perfect. I will exterminate all evil and create a new, pure world"_

Shiro prayed for the last time before his summoning ritual.

There will be no turning back. His wish will finally be granted.

* * *

><p>Tohsaka Rin pushed the huge altar with all her might to the far end of her workshop so she could have as much space as possible for the summoning ritual she would be performing.<p>

It was almost two o'clock in the morning, and that will be the time when her mana reserves will be at its prime.

She double checked the summoning circle she had drawn on the ground and cross referenced it with what was shown in her spellbook. Content that both looked exactly similar and that all the finer details were in order she went on to place the relic that Shiro gave her on the altar.

The old shield that she was going to use for her summoning ritual as a catalyst seemed to still be in good condition after all these centuries. She wondered which hero from the Trojan War she would summon.

Maybe she'll summon Paris, but he was more competent with a bow, so she hoped not. Or would it be Hector of Troy? On the side of the Myrmidons there was Ajax the Great who wielded Rho Aias, an impregnable ox-hide shield. Looking at her relic that could be the hero Shiro intended her to summon.

Something was bugging at the back of her mind. If she remembered correctly, there was another great hero among the Myrmidons but she was just too tired to think about it. It was late and she wanted to finish this as quickly as possible.

Rin already told her mother that she'll be staying up for the night, explaining to her about the summoning ritual.

She sighed.

She solemnly wished her father was still alive to see her do this. Participating in the Holy Grail War whereas he was denied from doing so. If only he lived just a little longer, then he would have been able to.

Rin shook her head, there was no time to worry and sulk now, wherever her father was, she knew he would be proud with her accomplishments. She'll be the winner of the Holy Grail War and bring honor to the Tohsaka family.

Everything was ready. She took out from her pocket ten jewels that stored mana that she had been accumulating from all these years to boost for the success of her summoning.

Mana reserves at its peak.

Summoning circle ready.

Catalyst present.

That night, eight masters from two opposing factions stood in front of their respective summoning circles. A deep wish inside each one of them that they earnestly wanted.

That night, heroes from all walks of legends and time will walk again in this world in order to do battle and fulfil their own desires and wish.

That night, at the same exact moment, without either one realizing it, with resolute and determination, eight masters began chanting the words of power as they simultaneously began the summoning ritual.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>For the Elements, Silver and Iron…..<strong>_" the four masters of Yggdmillennia started, invoking the pre-ritual of the summoning of their servants with their hands raised forward.

"_**For the Foundation, Stone and the Archduke of Contracts…**_"

The summoning circle started to glow as power coursed through its lines.

"_**For the Ancestor, my great master, Schweinorg….**_"

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Close the gates of the four Cardinal directions<strong>_," Kotomine Shiro announced in front of his own summoning circle as he reached his left hand forward. His face was focused wholly on the task at hand.

"_**Come forth from the Crown, and follow the three-forked road leading to the Kingdom**_"

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill<strong>_"

"_**Repeat five times, but when each is filled, destroy it**_," Rin announced as her summoning circle started to glow bright green. She closed her eyes as the incantation for the pre-summoning was finished and the summoning circle has been filled with energy. Now it was time for the summoning.

"_**Set**_"

"_**I hereby propose!**_" Rin declared. The summoning circle started to glow brighter than ever. She could feel through her body that the foundation of her home was shaking with energy.

"_**Let my will create thy body, and thy sword shall create my destiny**_"

"_**If you heed the call of the Grail and obey my will and reason, then-**_"

"_**-Answer me!"**_ she shouted with conviction.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>I hereby swear!<strong>_" Emiya Shirou declared in front of the circle with his left hand outstretched supported by the other. It felt like his Command Seals were trying to tear his hand apart. His sister stood a few meters behind him with her servant nearby.

Berserker seemed a bit restless and uneasy with the summoning ritual, but Ilya was keeping a tight grip so that he wouldn't do anything reckless. The foundation of the Chapel seemed to be shaking as her brother began chanting the incantations to summon his servant. Bright white light was coming out of the summoning circle as he went on with each incantation. It was a sight that worried Ilya because she had never seen her brother this serious before.

"_**That I shall become all that is good in this eternal world**_"

"_**That I shall defeat all that is evil in this eternal world**_"

* * *

><p>The other masters of Yggdmillennia paused as Caules began chanting the words so that he would summon the Berserker class servant.<p>

"_**But let Chaos cloud thine eyes!**_" as he began chanting the 'berserk' line the whole room seemed to shook. He felt completely terrified by the experience, but he could stop now, not when he was in the middle of it.

"_**Thou who art trapped in a cage of madness**_"

"_**And I, who will command those chains!**_"

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>You seven heavens clad in the three great powers<strong>_," Kotomine Shiro announced with the utmost conviction as he came to the end of the summoning ritual.

"_**Come forth from the circle of Binding**_"

"_**Guardians of Balance!**_"

With the final line the summoning circles erupted in a blinding white light that engulfed each of the masters.

* * *

><p>Tohsaka Rin was almost thrown back by the sheer radiance from the ritual. As she opened her eyes, she gazed upon the figure in front of her.<p>

Standing taller than her was a man with pale blonde hair, wearing black-silver armor with a single orange cloth tied around his neck.

Rin couldn't believe the sight that was before her. She jumped in excitement at her accomplishment.

"Yes, I did it!" Rin declared excitedly.

The servant looked at his master with a curious and bewildered look. He crossed his hands over his chest while staring at the antics of his excited master.

"So, my master is a feisty one, isn't she?" the servant remarked jokingly.

* * *

><p>In the throne room of the Fortress of Yggdmillennia, four Heroic Spirits stood on the summoning circle as the bright light faded.<p>

The one directly in front of Fiore was a gentle-looking man with long golden-brown hair wearing an archaic style of dress.

Next to him was a man that was as tall as the heroic spirit in front of Fiore, with long brown hair, wearing peach-red battle armor over a white surcoat with a red cross drawn over it.

And after that, Caules's gaze shifted to what he thought was the single most beautiful person in the whole room that stood in front of Gordes. The girl had golden blond hair that was tied down in a pony-tail, wearing silver armor over her violet dress. She had similarly violet eyes and her figure was that of a slender beautiful girl.

And finally, in front of Caules was what he thought was his servant. A young girl clad in a white dress with empty eyes, carrying a giant mace.

'Ok….did he performed the summoning ritual correctly? Or did he summoned the wrong servant?'

* * *

><p>Kotomie Shiro wasn't fazed even the least by the eruption of bright light that subsequently engulfed him as he finished the summoning ritual.<p>

He opened his eyes to gaze upon the servant that he had called upon to aid him in this war.

What he could consider as a peerlessly beautiful woman wrapped in a dress that was as dark as midnight stood before him. She had black-raven hair that flowed all the way to the ground. Her presence emanated a pleasing aroma and her figure would have caught the hearts of many men.

However Shiro didn't even show the slightest hint of attraction to the beautiful being that stood in front of him.

The servant stared at Shiro with accusing eyes, as if she couldn't believe that there wasn't even the slightest reaction from her summoner at her depraved beauty.

"Not for naught am I known as the world's oldest poisoner... Are you truly certain that you can wield Queen Semiramis?" the servant asked Shiro with a commanding voice that of a ruler. Shiro simply smiled back as he always did, and replied casually.

"O Queen of Assyria, in this Great Holy Grail War, I aim not for victory or defeat but for another goal entirely. Will you aid me?"

The response from Shiro confused the servant. She smirked back at him, showing a hint of interest at what her master had in store for her.

'This should be interesting,' she thought.

* * *

><p>The light that erupted in the Einzbern Chapel faded away leaving a thick white mist in its wake. Ilya brought down her hands from her face as she used it to shield herself from the previously bright light due to the summoning.<p>

She could feel Berserker becoming restless, but she held onto him and tried comforting him that nothing was amiss. Her gaze shifted to the summoning circle where her brother attempted to summon his servant.

A beautiful young woman who seemed to be in her late teens with a slender physique and soft, white skin stood before Shirou. She had "finely textured" golden hair that seemed as if it was "sprinkled with golden dust" which was then tied into a bun. She wore silver armor over a blue-styled dress. The armor refracted the incoming moonlight making her glitter and shine in the otherwise lightless Chapel.

Shirou gave a pleased look at the servant in front of him with his arms crossed across his chest in content.

"Welcome back, Saber," Shirou said, smiling towards the blond servant.

The servant opened her teal colored eyes and shifted her gaze towards her master, smiling at his presence.

"It's good to be back, Shirou," the blond servant said.

**End of Prologue**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

This chapter was an adaptation from part 3 of the first chapter of the English translation of the light novel, Fate/Apocrypha made by Canonrap.

The incantation for the summoning ritual was an amalgamation of several used incantations from Fate/ Stay Night, Fate Apocrypha and Fate/Zero.

In reality, it wouldn't be possible to synchronize all of the summoning rituals since each of their time zones differ. The difference of time zone between Japan and Romania is 7/8 hours.


	6. Kazikli Bey

**Kazikli Bey: The Lord of Execution **are the spears used by Vlad III. The spear itself isn't magical or famous like other known weapons. But what crystallized it into the stones of history is the way it was utilized. Vlad III would skewer his enemies with them, then leaving the pierced foes on the battlefield for all to watch in horror as they die impaled, earning him the title 'Lord Impaler'.

* * *

><p><strong>Act 1: Chapter 1<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Fortress of Millennia, Trifas.<strong>

Caules stared long and hard at his computer monitor. His eyes scrolled down through the many written texts and images on the opened webpage. His right hand scrolled down the mouse, sifting through the long articles. He turned his attention back to the piece of paper that he had used during the summoning ritual, examining it thoroughly. He felt like he was just duped without him realizing it. And although he being cheated was something common considering his position as one of the lowliest of mages in Yggdmillennia, this was something even he didn't anticipated for.

'This…..this is the real thing, right?' he looked at the piece of paper held in his left hand accusingly.

He tapped his fingers on the table as his mind tried to figure out this outlandish problem that was presented to him.

There had to be a logical explanation for this. Even if he was in the midst of beings that could enact miracles and defied science, there should still be a coherent explanation for such a thing to occur. Magecraft by itself, although defying science, followed a pre-set of rules such as Origin, Affinity and Equivalent Exchange, thus the outcome of an event or a ritual should hypothetically be predictable.

'No, there was nothing on the internet about this. Not even the all-knowing Wikipedia had the answer!'

His fingers started tapping on the table faster as if he wanted the sound of his tapping to clog his mind and fill it with the answers to the one question that annoyed him to no end.

….

….

….

His tapping was interrupted by the clanking and shifting of metal.

Caules looked towards his bed and the so-called 'heroic spirit' that was laying on it. That's when his mind finally burst in annoyance.

'HOW THE HELL WAS THIS THING SUPPOSED TO BE FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER?!' Caules's mind went into a frenzy.

*Bang*

"Huh?" Caules's servant lifted her head at the sound of him slamming the table with his fist, dumbfounded. She gave a puzzled expression at the frustrated look of her master.

Caules went on to face palm himself, he must have looked like a fool back in the throne room after the summoning ritual when he said that who he thought he summoned was Frankenstein's Monster. Averted, that nobody actually laughed at his declaration when Darnic asked each master the identity of their servants since they were in the presence of Lancer, but he could swear that her aunt Celenike was holding back herself from bursting and was now laughing to her hearts contents in her own room where no one could listen. Unlike him, she may not have to worry about summoning the wrong servant. She summoned one of the bloody Champions of Christendom for heaven's sake!

He scanned at the blueprints of the 'ideal human' that her sister had given to him as a summoning catalyst for the hundredth time.

This was the real thing, Caules thought. The catalyst wasn't wrong, so it wasn't Fiore's fault if he happened to summon a servant that looked entirely different than what he expected.

No, he thought. This wasn't Fiore's fault and he felt kind of ashamed that he could go so far as to point fingers and blame his sister for summoning what he thought wasn't supposed to be the servant he intended to summon. She was only following orders when Darnic instructed her to obtain a catalyst for Caules to summon Frankenstein as the Berserker for their faction as Caules's servant.

God, he felt pathetic.

This was his own fault. He didn't do his research properly. He took the word of a non-magus that had 'thought' she had met the monster of Frankenstein instead of properly researching through historical records and their authenticity. He always boasted to Fiore for being able to obtain information quickly and reliably since he was the few mages that actually knew 'how' a computer worked, but this just made it all look like some big sham. Why did this have to happen to him? And during the Holy Grail War too.

On a side note, how many more Heroes of Legends that the world thought were male were actually female? The last thing he needed to find out was that the greatest Heroes of the world like Heracles or Achilles were in fact woman. This had got to be due to some idiotic preconceive notion from the past that women couldn't become heroes and thus causing the writers of history to change the narrative.

God, he felt like a fool.

Caules's thoughts were interrupted again by the clanking and shifting of metal.

"Berserker!" he called.

His servant who looked like a young girl wearing a white dress stood up in a sitting position at the call of her master, still confused by his frustration.

"Just….just to reconfirm with you again. You are Frankenstein's monster right?" Caules asked tensely for the twelfth time. He knew the answer, but he just wanted to make sure he wasn't cheated or was dreaming.

Berserker pouted in anger at the same question her master had been asking her for the past hour.

"Grrrrr," she growled angrily, staring accusingly at the direction of Caules as if he thought she was bluffing with him. He must be pretty stupid to think that a servant that was robbed of its sanity could fool its master.

"Ok, ok. You don't need to get all angry about it," Caules raised his hands defensively.

"I was just double checking," He tried explaining.

"Everything it says about you on the internet seems totally-" Caules showed to Berserker.

"-different than what I actually got," he pointed out, trying to justify himself. This didn't change Berserker's mood at all. If anything, she still seemed furious at her master, but for a whole different reason.

"Grrrrr," she continued to growl in irritation.

Caules face palmed himself yet another time.

How could this 'thing' be the monster that Victor Frankenstein created? At first, Caules thought that he had accidently summoned the so-called 'Bride of Frankenstein' from the 1931 adaptation movie. But that didn't make much sense since the 'Bride of Frankenstein' was a fictional character created by Hollywood. So then, he thought it was Dr. Frankenstein's fiancée. But that also didn't make much sense since how the hell could the creator's fiancée become a heroic spirit?

The only explanation that Caules now had was that Victor Frankenstein had some kind of twisted sense of beauty that he could not fathom. Seriously, how could he call something like this a 'monster'?

You know what, he didn't even want to ponder it any longer. Of course Victor Frankenstein had a twisted mind, he's a bloody magus for crying out loud! Of course his sense of logic was beyond Caules's comprehension.

Caules looked back at his servant whom still bore that same furious look at him.

"What are you so angry about?! Was it something I did?" He asked, not wanting to get his servant any more furious at him than what she was right now. The last thing he needed was to explain to his sister was why his servant was trying to hit him with that gigantic mace she had for reasons he did not know of.

"Yaaa, yaaaa," Berserker replied. Her face mellowed a bit but her eyes still bore that accusing glare.

"This is getting nowhere," he said, with a defeated look.

"I'm assuming that means a yes?"

"Yaaa, yaaa," Berserker nodded.

"See, now we're getting somewhere," he exclaimed. Gosh, trying to figure out why a mad servant was, well, mad, was like trying to understand why gravity existed.

It just does.

"So what do you do to say no?" Caules asked.

"Uiii, uiii," berserker responded by shaking her head.

"Ok, so you can say yes, no, and get angry at me. Is there anything else that I need to know about how to communicate with you?" Caules went on.

"Uiii, uiii," Berserker responded.

"Well, that was expected I guess. I wouldn't have thought that you would be able to say much since you are kind of 'always' mad," Caules stated casually.

"Grrrrr"

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry. That was my bad, shish," he apologized quickly before the situation became out of hand. He turned his chair so that his body was now facing Berserker.

"Now that we've established a method of communication, let's start from the beginning, ok?" Caules said. The servant looked at Caules blankly, not knowing what to respond.

"First things first, you're still angry at me for some reason. I don't know why and you can't tell me," he said.

"Yaaa, yaa"

"Was it something I did?" Caules asked.

"Yaaa, yaa," Berserker responded.

No, that was actually the wrong question to ask. Of course it was something that 'he' did, or else Berserker wouldn't be mad at him. He felt like a fool, he needed to be more detailed about his questions or else this conservation wouldn't be going anywhere.

"Was it something I said earlier?" He continued asking.

"Yaaa, yaaa"

So it was something that he said.

God, what did he said that got his servant pissed off at him? Caules chuckled to himself. If he actually put some thought on it, there were actually a lot of things that he said that would have pissed off a lot of people, his sister included.

But he needed to be smart about this. He needed to repair the relationship he had with his servant. Many stories he heard from the numerous false Holy Grail Wars was that masters of Berserker will be the ones to die first, not because their servant was weak, but because their servants rebelled on them.

He didn't want to be among those masters.

Come on Caules, think.

It's been an hour since the summoning ritual, so that left much room for him to ponder. What did he carelessly said that would have gotten his servant angry at him?

Caules eliminated anything that he said in his room since by then Berserker was already pissed off at him. He didn't said anything while walking back to his room, so that left only what he said in the throne room.

What in the blaze did he said in the throne room that could get Berserker angry? It couldn't be the fact that he summoned her as a Berserker, well it could actually, since that also meant implanting the 'Mad Enhancement' skill on his servant, but that was before the summoning. No it had to be something more than just summoning her as some 'Mad Warrior'. What could have gotten somebody pissed off?

Shame?

Humiliation?

Embarrassment?

Caules thought back to the incident in the throne room. They summoned their servants. Then each servant responded to their respective masters. Then Darnic asked the true identity of each servant. Fiore's spoke first, then aunt Celenike's, then uncle Gordes's servant told her true identity which got the him somewhat disappointed, but he still continued to boast that he had summoned the Saber class servant for Yggdmillennia, though he still looked kind of furious for some reason. And then finally it was his turn to tell everyone who his servant was, since his servant couldn't speak, which he could recall, almost had everyone looked at him and his servant in disbelief and only when he actually showed the catalyst and was further confirmed by Fiore did he thought both Darnic and Lancer actually believed him.

It was expected, since even he had a hard time believing that his servant was….

Something clicked in Caules's mind.

That was when he finally realized why his servant was so furious with him.

"Berserker," he called. The servant looked at him, still holding that angry expression.

"Were you angry at me because I revealed your identity?" he asked.

"Yaaa, yaa," Berserker nodded.

*sigh*

Caules brought his hand to his forehead and thought long and hard at the fact. He shouldn't have been surprised. He should have anticipated this. God, he felt like a fool again and mind you they hadn't even start the war yet.

Of course if you were among great notable heroic spirits and you were the only one who 'seemed' like some kind of monster, then you would have been embarrassed if your true identity was revealed.

Berserker must have felt out of place with all the other servants in the throne room and their foretold legends, whilst she only had accumulated some dreaded story of her life to boast about.

She felt nervous and out of place, she felt like she didn't belong there if anyone knew who she really was.

She felt just like him.

Caules sighed again. Well at least, he got to know his servant's personality a little bit more before the war went any further.

"Berserker," he began speaking seriously. The servant looked at Caules blankly. He couldn't make what she was thinking, but he didn't want his end to be because he failed to come to terms with his servant.

"Look, I'm sorry for going out of line and revealing your true identity, it wasn't my secret to share," he apologized.

"Huh," Berserker perked up at his master's apology.

"The last thing that I want is for either of us to die because we got on the wrong foot, don't you agree?" he continued. There was a moment of silence, as if the servant was contemplating what he just said, before finally answering.

"Yaaa, yaaa"

Well that was easy enough. For a moment there, Caules thought the Mad Servant will continue being, well, mad at him for the duration of the war. But as it seemed that wouldn't be the case. Berserker seemed to come to terms that her master was, in some horrible way, a fool and had hopefully forgiven him. He was actually quite glad that Berserker's 'Mad Enhancement' Skill wasn't that high, since it allowed for Berserker to retain some form of coherent understanding and not blindly rage about.

With a stroke of luck, his only hope was that Berserker's patience for her master held for the entirety of the war.

"Well then, that's settled then right? Let's start from the beginning, and let's do it right this time," Caules said.

He stood up from where he was, then moved towards Berserker and then offered his hand to her.

"Berserker, will you take me, Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia as your master in this Great Holy Grail War?" Caules proposed.

Now why did it sounded wrongly in his mind?

Berserker looked at Caules blankly, as if pondering what he had just said. He hoped she didn't have the wrong idea or whatsoever.

He wasn't able to think about it long since Berserker quickly accepted his hand and clamped it with both of her own. She squeezed his hand that he thought he could almost feel his bones cracking under the pressure.

"Not too tight. Not too tight," Caules begged. Berserker noticed the painful expression her master made and quickly lessened her grip a little.

"I guess I deserved that," he said.

"Yaa, yaa," the servant responded. Caules chuckled lightly at himself. That was kind of mean, he thought.

He brought his left hand atop Berserker's hands that were clamping his offered right hand, revealing his Command Seals that proved that he was a legitimate master of the Holy Grail War.

"From this day on, my fate will be in your hands and in return you will be my sword and shield for this war," Caules went on.

"Yaaa, yaaa," Berserker gave the same response, her expression changed from one that was previously angry to the normal blank look she initially had when Caules first summoned her.

They stayed like that, staring at each other, until finally Caules couldn't stand anymore with Berserker's blank look at him. It looked disturbing. Like some doll staring back at you.

"Ummm, could you let go of my hand now Berserker?" He asked.

Berserker released his hand and left it mid-air, as if she was mesmerized by what had just happened.

Caules went back to his seat in front of the computer.

"Now that is done, maybe we could get to know more about one another. I've been reading this article from the internet about you. I can tell you about it and you can tell me whether most of the things here are correct or not," he said.

"Huh?" this got the attention of Berserker. She moved besides her master and brought her face as close as possible to the screen that he said had information about her.

"Hey, don't get too close, you'll ruin your eyes!" Caules pulled back Berserker so that she wouldn't obscure the monitor. God, he needed to get some control over his servant.

His hand went to the mouse and started scrolling the page.

"See here, the first records of your existence was compiled by a person named Mary Shelley in 1818 in her story called 'Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus'. Sounds familiar?" Caules began reading to Berserker.

"Uiii, uiii," she responded.

*sigh*

Caules continued reading, and in between, Berserker would occasionally respond with what he could fairly conclude to himself, was a yes or a no.

He turned his gaze towards Berserker and how she gave almost full attention to whatever that was shown on the monitor and to whatever words came out from his mouth. What was in the mind of his servant? Was it really just blind rage and raw instinct or was there a deep personality behind it all? How in the world could someone that looked almost like a child be considered a monster?

This was going to be a long war, Caules was sure of it.

* * *

><p>Caules wasn't the only one trying to figure out their servants and form some kind of master-servant relationship with them. Throughout the castle, the newly appointed masters interacted with their servants, one was trying to understand their abilities and formulate plans, another was just bored and wanted to see whether they could have any fun with their 'servant', while another was just too astonished in the presence of their heroic spirit that they couldn't do anything.<p>

Surprisingly, the master that was speechless in the presence of her servant was none other than the strongest master in Yggdmillennia besides Darnic, Fiore.

Her servant, Archer was helping her to push her wheelchair back to her room. They had just came out from a meeting concerning the summoned Heroic Spirits that would be fighting for Yggdmillennia.

Fiore remained silent throughout their journey. For all she was prepared for as the heir and next in line as the Elder of Yggdmillennia, nothing prepared her for this.

"You've been silent ever since we left the throne room, is something bothering you master?" Archer of Black inquired, interrupting the silence.

This got Fiore unexpectedly startled.

"Huh?"

"Oh, sorry. It's just that the summoning ritual used a lot of my mana and I'm still recuperating, and I was still wondering-" Fiore spoke softly before she Archer cut her.

"Whether I'm actually Chiron, the Mentor of Heroes?" Archer finished her words. Fiore was struck silent by Archer's quick observation.

"Don't get me wrong Archer, I-I know that you're Chiron, I specifically chose your summoning catalyst. It's just…." Her voice trailed off, not knowing how to put what was on her mind into words.

"It's just too hard to believe is it? I'm assuming you're expecting your servant to have the form of a centaur than that of a man? Am I correct?" Archer finished her. Fiore remained silent at this.

The Heroic Spirit that Fiore intended to summon was Chiron, the Mentor of Heroes. He was renowned as being the one person who had trained countless of great heroes that they themselves had great legends about including most of the members of the Argonauts like Heracles and Jason. For every reason, he should have been in the form of a centaur and not that of a middle-aged man.

"Well, I can shift into my centaur form if that is what you wish for, master. However, there are so few heroes that are likened to the Centaur, and my name would surely be the first one since I am the model for Sagittarius," Archer explained.

"I-I see," Fiore accepted her explanation.

"But don't worry, master. None of my skills in combat or any of my Noble Phantasms will be jeopardized while I remain in the form as a man, if anything, I believe it will give us the edge of surprise as we embark in this war," he announced confidently.

"Yes, of course, I understand," Fiore said.

"And please call me Fiore," she said, flustered. It is true that, aside from his somewhat archaic style of dress, he simply looked like any gentle man. There wasn't anything in his appearance that would reveal his identity as the great sage Chiron.

However, now that she was talking with him directly, it took all of Fiore's remaining strength to not be overwhelmed by the air Archer exuded. His presence was like that of a massive forest, it's cool and clear air engulfed her miniscule existence.

"If that is what you wish, master," he replied earnestly.

They have finally reached Fiore's room and she was ready to give in for the night. As great as a magus she was, even with the fact that they had found a way to redirect the energy in maintaining the servants to their built-in energy core Homunculus, she still felt drained from the summoning ritual.

It must have been due to her legs, she thought.

"This is where we shall part ways, Fiore. I know that you have many more questions about my abilities and skills in combat, but I would advise that you keep it until morning when you have recuperated, I imagine the summoning ritual was quite taxing on you," Archer spoke.

"Yes, I think I will Archer, thank you for your concern," Fiore said. Archer smiled back then continued on speaking.

"For the duration of this war, I will be your servant, Archer of Black. It may be too simple to ask for your faith and trust, thus watch for my bow on the field, there you will find proof of my skills and that I am suited to become your servant," Black Archer spoke while bowing his head in respect.

"Yes… I'm expecting great things, Archer," Fiore said, trying to cover her still flustered expression.

"If anything please do not hesitate to call me, I will stand guard for the night as you rest," Archer said, then finally dematerializing into spirit form.

With her servant in spirit form, Fiore slowly closed the door to her room.

She pushed her wheelchair next to her bed, then lifted herself into it. She changed into her nightgown and then tucked herself to sleep.

Before sleeping she stared up towards the ceiling of her room, pondering what she had got herself involved in.

She wished she didn't have to participate in this war. She wished she could have continued her study in the Clock Tower along with her friends. She wished she didn't have to get her hands dirty with the blood of others.

But with Darnic heading this operation, she could not refuse. No, not when the whole fate of the clan weighted on her shoulders. But most importantly, she could not back out, not when the possibility of her obtaining her wish was so close.

She felt so selfish with her wish, but that seemed the only thing that was driving her forward.

Eventually, she succumbed to her tiredness for the night even though many of the members of the household were still awake.

* * *

><p>Gordes wasn't happy with how the summoning ritual turned out. Despite the fact that he was able to summon the strongest servant class in the war, the servant saber, unfortunately it wasn't the heroic spirit that he wanted to summon.<p>

He knew he should have been more careful in choosing his summoning catalyst, he could have gotten anyone, maybe Siegfried, the Dragon Slaying Warrior or even one of the Paladins of Charlemagne, heck, he even envied the fact that Celenike was the one who was able to bring forth one of Christendom's Seven Champions. He would have wanted to summon anyone, anyone at all, anyone else except the current servant he had obtained.

He looked back at the direction of his servant who had been following him the entire time. Eyes in disappointment and accusing at the one thing that he could place the blame on.

"So let me get this straight saber. Your Noble Phantasm, your strongest weapon, destroys both you and your opponent?!" Gordes spoke in contempt. He sat in a chair in his workshop in the underground alchemy labs of the Fortress of Millennia.

"Yes master, please forgive me," Saber of Black replied, her voice was soft and there was an air of innocence and kindness when she apologized, like it truly wasn't her fault that such an ill-fate could have happened.

Gordes looked at his servant, inspecting her and allowing his ability as a master to examine her stats. He wasn't pleased the least.

The Servant of the Sword wore an elegant black-violet battle gown with silver armor covering her waist. Her golden-blond hair was tied into a ponytail and she wore some kind of headgear that protected her forehead that also kept her hair from obscuring her face.

Saber of Black was, in all honesty, one of the more beautiful servants that anyone could have summoned. Her youth coupled with the way she brought herself was like that of a princess and when she announced who she was when Lancer of Black requested her true identity, the whole throne room feel into deep silence, as if enthralled by some kind of spell.

That was also when Gordes realized that he had summoned the wrong servant he intended to.

Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans and the reputed heroine of France during the Hundred Years' War.

Lancer of Black was extremely pleased with her, maybe taking into account that there will be others who shared a similar faith as himself, but Gordes didn't share the same views as his Elder's servant.

Averted, he could give credit to his servant in that none of her stats were bellow B-rank, in all honesty anyone would have cried to have a servant with such power, but Gordes wasn't one to be fooled. This was a team battle, stats meant little, the more important aspects was like who possessed the more superior Noble Phantasms or who had the larger mystery, that of which his servant neither possessed.

Joan of Arc was comparatively a new mystery, being born into the world around the 15th century, thus to Gordes even with her astonishing stats, she might not be able to compare to older heroes that had carved their names in legends and were known more throughout the world such as King Arthur, Siegfried or even one of the Greek Heroes.

That, and coupled with the fact that her Noble Phantasm was only a one-time-use-then-die attack, Gordes wasn't the bit least impressed.

He had to be smart about this, he had just waved Yggdmillennia's chance in being able to summon a stronger Saber servant, and thus he won't be further humiliated by the incompetence of his servant. He needed to make sure that his servant knew that he was the one in control and was also the only one who actually saw the bigger picture in winning.

"Saber, I am your master!" he declared to his servant, brandishing his Command Seals on the back of his left hand, showing it off as if wanted to threaten the powerful servant.

"From here on, I want you to follow my orders to the letter, when I ask you to fight, you fight, when I order you to do something, I want you to do it, no questions, no doubts. This war can only be won if you follow my orders with absolute loyalty. Do I make myself clear?!" he asked his servant in a commanding tone.

Gordes wouldn't be fooled, even if the servant before him was beautiful and elegant and brought herself like some princess, he will have a steady mind. In all honesty, his servant could have passed for one of his son's girlfriends. With Saber of Black's inability to utilize her Noble Phantasm multiple times, the only sure way that she would be useful in the war was through tactical coordination and good-planning. There was nothing more to his servant, he thought. She already had her chance to live, and the only reason Saber was here was because Gordes allowed it, she was merely a 'tool', and the most effective way for a tool to perform its duty was through unyielding loyalty towards its master.

For a moment, there seemed to be only tension in the room before Saber of Black finally responded.

"Yes master, I understand," the servant replied with a solemn look, as if she could feel the disappointment her master had on her.

Gordes smiled, pleased with the way the servant was acknowledging him as her master.

"Good. Now then, you may dematerialize and leave me for the night. There is much that I will need to do and plan here in my workshop. Do not disturb me unless it is of the utmost importance," he said proudly.

"Yes master," Saber bowed her head, then dematerialized into spirit form.

Well, that was easy, Gordes thought.

Now alone in his workshop, Gordes started concocting plans for the Holy Grail Wars and inspecting the recent updates pertaining his homunculi. It was his research after all, that enabled the masters of Yggdmillennia to redirect the prana consumption of the servants onto another source. This would put them on a higher advantage compared to the mages sent by the Clock Tower, no matter how strong they were.

He held great pride in his accomplishment as a first-rate alchemist, even the Einzberns who were renowned for their so-called 'Perfect Homunculus' wouldn't have thought of something like this.

With it, the Heroic Spirits under Yggdmillennia can expand the use of their skills and Noble Phantasms without restraint since they wouldn't be burdening their masters for prana consumption. However, since Gordes's servant couldn't utilize her Noble Phantasm as much as she wanted to, the whole point of redirecting the consumption of mana became pointless, and this, Gordes had to rethink back on how he would want to approach the situation. He didn't want to make a fool of himself, not when he had summoned the so-called 'strongest' servant of the Holy Grail War.

There was much to be done.

* * *

><p>Darnic had just finished his meeting with all of the masters and servants of Yggdmillennia. Asking each one of the summoned Heroic Spirits their true identities and allowing Lancer to personally meet the ones that he thought had the potential to bring them victory.<p>

Lancer seemed particularly interested in Saber and Rider. This could be because they both shared the same belief as Lancer did. And although Archer was totally from a different era that he was and didn't shared his belief in the Almighty, that didn't stop Lancer from acknowledging the value Archer had over all the other Heroic Spirits in the room

Among all of them, Archer could be seen as the most skilled warrior among them all, since his legends was the oldest and he was the mentor of almost all of the greatest Greek Heroes. Having Archer would be a great benefit to their faction, since it meant that if the opposing faction wanted to summon any of the other Greek Heroes, though that wasn't a guarantee, then Archer could provide instrumental tactical advantage.

After that, Darnic sent off the Masters and their servants. He knew that each individual pair would want to formulate their own plans or retire for the night.

Darnic dismissed the homunculi as well, leaving him and Lancer of Black alone in the Throne Room.

"That makes six Heroic Spirits. Assassin will be arriving soon," Darnic turned his attention towards Lancer who was sitting on the throne.

There were seven designated classes that the Heroic Spirits were usually put into, and would be the regular servants that were summoned in any normal Holy Grail War.

Saber, the Hero of the Sword.

Archer, the Hero of the Bow.

Rider, the Hero of the Mount.

Caster, the Hero of Magic.

Berserker, the Hero of Madness.

Assassin, the Hero of the Shadows.

And finally his own servant's class, Lancer, the Hero of the Spear.

In previous Holy Grail Wars, each servant would usually formulate their own strategies and fight with their own tactics at their own discretion. However, the situation now has gravely changed, for in this Great Holy Grail War, he had not one servant under his command, but seven.

Often, the strategies employed by a servant is based on their classes, some had more advantages than others. Like for example, the Saber class would always be one of the strongest servants and would be fighting in the frontlines, while the Rider class servant would usually have the strongest Noble Phantasms and the Assassin class would usually attack from the shadows, targeting the masters instead.

This usually caused servants that were weaker, such as the Assassin and Caster class, to be killed first and early on during the war, while classes such as Lancer and Saber, being among the last due to their strength.

Now however, even classes like that, which would usually die early in normal Holy Grail Wars, could now be used to their fullest potential.

For instance, Caster of Black who was summoned by Roche was already in the process of manufacturing over a thousand golems in the underground workshops. In any normal Holy Grail War, Caster may never be able to find either the time or the resources needed to manufacture his golems. But now, since he had the backing of a whole clan and their vast amount of resources, and at least two months to prepare in advance, Caster of Black could be seen as the single most useful servant so far other than Lancer since in the past two months, he had been the only one at work creating thousands of golems.

While they will never be a match for a Servant, they are valuable enough as stumbling blocks, providing an opening for their Heroic Spirits to slay the opposing servants. And against Servants unsuited to close-ranged combat like Caster or Assassin, they might even be able to take them down given the chance.

Lancer smiled to himself at the list of Heroic Spirits under his command.

"Do you know how I feel right now, Darnic?" he spoke towards the Elder of Yggdmillennia.

It may have been a rhetorical question, considering the fact that Lancer's smile was hard not to see, that, and the fact that it was almost rare to see the Lord Impaler so content.

"My Lord, for a lowly magus such as myself, no amount of deliberation would allow me to conceive the same thoughts as the great Dracula," Darnic replied in a respective tone.

Lancer shot him a glance of irritation at this, it dampened his smile a bit.

"Flattery in excess only reveals your own depth, Darnic. You may call me your Lord, but I shall call you my Master in turn. I will not deny that I am but your Servant," Lancer said, justifying himself.

"Yes, my Lord," Darnic replied nonetheless.

Internally, Darnic berated himself for going too far. Nevertheless, as a great magus of the modern era, this was the least he could do in front of such a figure. Lancer of Black, who was Vlad III and the greatest hero of Transylvania deserved as much, and it was due to Lancer's action as well that Yggdmillennia could now flourish in Romania. It would be unjust to at least say that Vlad III was the sole reason why Yggdmillennia mages survived in the surrounding areas while under the attack of the Turks during the fifteen century.

"I spent half my life defending this nation from the Turks, Darnic. I ruled as best as I can, but there were things I simply lacked," Lancer exclaimed.

"By which you mean?" Darnic inquired.

"People, Darnic. I did not have great captains on whom I could leave companies of soldiers to. I gave my all in order to gain victory on the field, but that only meant that I could accomplish little else. But do not mistake this for an admission of incompetence. I simply-"

"-did not have the right people, or the time needed to train them," Darnic finished Lancer's sentence.

Lancer nodded, content at Darnic's words.

"But now…..now Darnic, I have them. Five irreplaceable Heroic Spirits, and Rider in particular. I cannot think of a more magnificent warrior than the Dragon Slaying Saint, Saint George. I literally grew up hearing stories about him. And now, it fills me with great pride that one with so much renown such as him would acknowledge my command," Lancer said proudly.

"And it is not just Rider. There is Archer, the Great Sage Chiron, and Caster, Avicebron, the father of the Kabbalah thaumaturgical system. He may be eccentric, but his creations will prove to be invaluable in the war"

"And Berserker…" Darnic said.

"Yes, Berserker, the mad creation of Doctor Frankenstein…." Lancer said, disturbed.

"Is there something wrong my Lord?" Darnic said, noticing Lancer's uneasiness.

"No, it is nothing. It is just that, I have learnt that many stories and legends that have been created in this era have put me on the same pedestal as that monster. I wish to erase that," he said.

"And so you will my Lord," Darnic assured him.

"Berserker will prove invaluable in causing massive damage and confusion among the enemy ranks. And the fact that she is relatively a new mystery gives us an edge in keeping her identity a secret," Darnic further said.

"Yes….yes, I agree with you Darnic. She will prove to be invaluable," Lancer nodded to Darnic's word.

"And then finally there is Saber," Darnic said. This got Lancer pondering at his words.

"Saber…..Joan the Arc," he spoke to himself.

"We both believed in the same faith and held the same belief. To learn that a girl so young could accomplish so much….." he said to himself.

"If fate had not been so cruel on either of us, we may have met and I would have been eager to provide her sanctuary from the people who would hunt her down," Lancer said.

"Gordes seems to disapprove," Darnic remarked.

"That is because he does not see the value of a hero as you or I do," Lancer stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"There is a reason why she is placed into the servant class known as 'the Most Outstanding' servant of all. Time will prove to Gordes that he was wrong to doubt his servant or any Heroic Spirit for that matter," Lancer continued.

"And today, all of the Heroic Spirits summoned before you, all of them, are yours to command, my Lord. They are the 'captains' that you so seek," Darnic said.

"Hmmmm, yes," Lancer agreed.

"Now only the Servant Assassin remains, then? The Heroic Spirit is to be summoned somewhere else as I am told?" Lancer asked.

"Yes my Lord. We originally planned so that the master would join us here tonight. However, due to the fact that he is coming from London, which is now enemy territory, his summoning will be delayed for a while. We last had contact with him not two days ago," Darnic said.

"Very well then, Darnic. I will leave that matter in your capable hands," Lancer stood up from the throne.

"As you wish my Lord," he said, then bowing towards Lancer before he dematerialized into spirit form.

* * *

><p>Saber of Black walked through the unlit hallways of the Fortress of Millennia. Her fingers slightly touching the castle walls as she strolled across the long dark hallways.<p>

As she walked, she started contemplating on what had transpired right after her summoning.

Everyone, almost everyone in the throne room was transpired when she answered the call of Yggdmillennia in fighting for them in this Great Holy Grail War. She was greeted with open arms by both the Elder of Yggdmillennia and also his servant, Lancer of Black who she found out was Vlad III.

At first she was a bit wary of Lancer, the way he brought himself was somewhat disturbing, the air he excluded was cold and his voice seemed to be able to pierce her very soul. But after listening to what he had to say and his goals and also the fact that they both shared the same faith, her inner instincts told her that Lancer was one that could be trusted.

He had no ill intent, she concluded. He only became what he is today because that was how history and legends made him to become. In that regard, Lancer was like herself. Someone who was misunderstood and was unlucky enough to be at the wrong end of people's perception.

She prayed that Lancer may find peace and hopefully his wish would be granted, whatever it was.

Saber didn't know why she could easily trust Lancer, even after learning his identity and how cruel he was to his enemies, considering this was also the first time they had ever met. However, something was telling her that Lancer was trustworthy enough that he could lead them to victory, maybe with a few rough edges, but lead them to victory nonetheless.

Then there was another servant she was glad she had on her side, another fellow believer and saint. She learned that Rider was one of the Seven Champions of Christendom, Saint George, the Dragon Slaying Saint. Saber once heard stories about him being told when she was a little girl, tales of heroism and legends. For her to actually be able to fight alongside him in this Great Holy Grail War was an honor by itself.

Lancer of Black welcomed them both and seemed almost content that other fellow Christian Heroes would battle beside him. And Rider also seemed to trust Lancer that he would acknowledge that Lancer was the better tactician when it came to warfare and in that regard, would differ to his judgment pertaining battle strategies.

The other servants of the Black faction, her faction, Archer, Berserker and Caster weren't that bad either, she thought. Archer, she knew was millennia-old before her time. He always seemed to have a smile and brought himself in that regard, especially when treating his master, Saber felt that he too could be trusted, maybe even more so than Lancer. Caster, although he never spoke a word, had a cold personality and maybe even had a totally different way of viewing the world than herself and the others, she felt that he also didn't had any ill intent towards the world. Maybe his methods differed from the rest of them, but that was just his nature and nobody said that one ought to be punished just because they were born that way, it was the actions and choices that would prove who they were in life, not the way they were born or what choices they had made in the past.

And finally Berserker. She felt sorrow from the Mad Warrior, as if there was something the servant wanted but was never given in life. When her master told of the identity of the Mad Servant, Saber could almost hardly believe it. She didn't know whether it was because the Monster of Frankenstein was alleviated into becoming a heroic spirit or whether it was the knowledge that Frankenstein's Monster, didn't seem like that of a monster.

She could feel a lot of confusion in the throne room when this was made known. And there was hurt, hurt coming from Berserker herself for being called as such.

Saber wished she could have spoken with the Mad Warrior, get to know her more maybe, understand what was disturbing her restless soul and hopefully help her put it at ease, however she wasn't allowed to do so since her master wanted answers from her.

Everyone, almost everyone, seemed to genuinely have a bright light within them, regardless what era they came from. They were of course, legends themselves, alleviated into the Throne of Heroes, the greatest that mankind had to offer, there must have been something in them that proved that they earned the title of 'Hero'.

Everyone had something that they could bring onto the table in order to aid Yggdmillennia in obtaining the Holy Grail. Whether it was Archer's bow, Lancer's leadership, Rider's unwavering piety and faith, she even believed that somewhere along the line Berserker and Caster had their place as well in the grand scheme of things.

It filled her with joy and peace to know that she will be able to fight alongside such souls and help them fulfill their respective wishes, for that was her own wish, to be able to fight once more, help the weak and righteous and those that were in need. And maybe this time, this time she wouldn't be misunderstood or branded as something else.

That was her deepest desire if she had any.

And yet…even so, her master seemed to think otherwise.

She understood that her master didn't initially intended to summon her and instead wanted another Christian Hero. Coupled that with the fact that her special abilities weren't really that stunning unlike Lancer on Rider maybe. Taking into account all that, she really could understand her master's frustration.

There was only one way to ease his mind, and that was for Saber to show him otherwise that the servant that was designated as the 'Most Outstanding' wasn't just in name. It will may be tough to meet the expectations of her new master, but it was a journey that Saber was willing to endure if that was what it meant to help fulfill his wish.

Something interrupted Saber's thoughts as she patrolled the hallways of the castle of Yggdmillennia.

She could hear two pairs of feet walking towards her direction. They didn't seem to be trying to muffle their steps. Another one of the masters and their servant perhaps?

"Be quiet Berserker! It's already past midnight and almost everyone is asleep by now!" the voice of a young boy commanded in a hushed voice.

"Grrrrr," another voice growled back.

Saber walked towards the direction of the voice, curious as to who would still be awake and active at this late of an hour.

"Hey, don't get angry with me. You were the one who wanted to prove to me that you were stronger than what the novels described you as"

"Uiii, uiii"

The voices became louder as Saber moved further into its direction.

"Although I have to admit, your Bridal Chest Noble Phantasm could prove useful in a fight"

"Yaaa, yaaa"

"But don't get too cocky, other servants may have even more powerful Noble Phantasms than yours. FYI, you are relatively a new mystery, not something as old like from the Age of Gods"

"Uiii, uiii"

Saber chuckled to herself as she listened to the banter between master and servant. The master seemed to not notice that he sounded like he was talking to himself while the servant could only give simple replies.

The voices of the two indicated that they have come to some sort of understanding. It lightened Saber's heart to know that such a beautiful connection could happen so fast, and with the servant Berserker as well.

"Say all you want Berserker. Wait till you meet another servant, then you'll eat your words"

"Grrrrr"

Saber was now more than curious to know who the duo were, she hastened herself to at least catch a glimpse of the pair before they retire for the night.

She walk quickly and then came to a corner.

*Bang*

*Boom*

Saber collided with two strangers and then fell as she came around the corner. Something huge must have fallen to the ground because she swore she could have felt the ground suddenly shook as something heavy cracked the marble floor.

The two strangers fell on the floor as well, one was a teenage boy with freckles and the other, which Saber presumed to be his servant, was a girl in a white dress with what she thought was a single horn coming out of her forehead. This she knew was servant Berserker.

There was a gigantic mace a few inches away from the girl. Where it laid, the marble cracked around it, meaning that that must have been the heavy object that was dropped on to the floor.

"Ouch, damn it Berserker! I told you to focus when we're walking in the dark, it's not like I'm the one that possess the better vision," the boy said, clearly a bit pissed off.

"Grrrrrrr"

"Don't get angry with me now. Argghhhh, I can't see a damn thing in this darkness and my glasses came off as well. Berserker, help me find my glasses," the boy whined.

"Yaaa…yaaaa," Berserker replied sluggishly. She looked up and that was when she noticed Saber in her perplexed state.

"Huuuuh, huuuhhh," Berserker shook the shoulder of her master who was aimlessly trying to find his glasses in the dark.

"What?! Have you found my glasses?!" the master asked assertively.

"Uiii, uiiii," Berserker responded and instead pointed to the direction of Saber.

"What is it?! Please don't tell me we accidentally killed someone, or even worst, one of the other Servants. Darnic is going to have my head and yours too if we somehow miraculously managed that even before the war starts," he said sarcastically.

"Grrrrr," Berserker growled back at her master.

Saber saw the glasses that the pair were trying to find and quickly took it.

"Umm, I believe this is what you're looking for?" Saber finally spoke to the pair. This got the boy to stop searching like a blind fool and instead turned his attention to the bearer of the voice.

"Oh great. Look, I'm really sorry for all of this, Berserker is easily distracted and she sometimes doesn't notice where she's going especially since its the middle of the night," the boy apologized.

"It's ok. At least I'm still alive, and that means that you will be able to keep your head too," Saber said honestly. The boy snickered at the supposed sarcasm.

"Here you go," Saber took the hand of the boy and placed the glasses in it. The boy seemed to almost yelp in surprise when Saber took his hand, not anticipating physical contact.

The young boy brought the glasses back to his face.

"Thanks, I-" he stopped midsentence as his vision became somewhat clearer. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out from his moth. He must have realized that whom he was talking to was one of the other summoned Servants of the Holy Grail War.

"Y-you're Saber!" the boy said, bewildered.

"That I am," Saber said, smiling.

"Oh no. You weren't hurt are you? Nothing damaged right? God, now uncle Gordes is going to take my head," the boy said in a panic tone.

"Huh?" Berserker looked dumbfound at the antics of her master.

"Please, calm down. I'm fine see," Saber stood up, showing that she wasn't hurt or anything.

"Oh, thank god," the boy said in relief.

"More importantly, are you ok?" Saber asked the young boy. She helped the boy and his servant get back on his feet, something which Saber noticed for some reason got the boy's face turn a tad bit redder.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," he said nervously, brushing off the dust on his clothes and trying to make himself as presentable as possible.

Now that they were faced to face, Saber had a better image of the boy. He looked like he was around her age before she died, with blond-golden hair but had somehow still retained the immature face of a child with freckles which didn't match how tall he was. He was, in fact, taller than her.

His clothing looks even worse. There were patches of dirt and mud all over his otherwise white uniform. It seemed like he had come from outside from what Saber thought might be from a battle of sorts.

But there couldn't be a battle happening right now, right? Not right after their summoning. And the whole Fortress didn't seem to be in a state of uproar, so what was this young boy doing outside of the castle?

"Ummm, sorry about that. Berserker could be a bit clumsy," he apologized, he brought his right hand behind his head in embarrassment.

"Grrrrr," said servant growled back at her master's excuse, standing beside him with the previously dropped mace in hand.

"That is alright. The most important thing is that nobody was hurt," Saber replied kindly.

Saber looked towards the master, then towards the servant.

Something felt amiss. This was the servant that Saber could feel all the hurt and sorrow coming from earlier back in the throne room, and yet, from the simple interaction between master and servant that was happening right now, it seemed that all of that sorrow and hurt had been diminished. Averted, that Berserker looked like she was still a bit furious with her master, but it wasn't the hurtful-betrayed type, it felt more playful, like the squabbling between siblings.

Curious, Saber wanted to know more about this pair and how they were able to develop such a bond in such little time.

"If I may inquire, what were the two of you doing this late of a night?" Saber asked.

She knew that some of the other denizens of the Fortress were still awake, maybe some of the other masters were still working hard in their workshop or forming battle plans for the days to come. But it was common for anyone to be tired and sleepy at this hour.

As a servant, though, she didn't need any sleep. Only prana to sustain herself.

"Well…umm," the boy started out nervously.

"We…..I that is, was testing out some of Berserker's strength and abilities in the courtyard outside," he explained frantically.

"Testing?" Saber looked confused.

"Yep, testing," the boy said confidently while adjusting his glasses.

As far as Saber knew, the masters of servants didn't need to 'test' their servant's strength or abilities to get an idea on how powerful they were. Upon summoned, a master will be able to see their servants base stats, class skill rank and even personal skill set where another master may not be able to see the later. And if a master wanted to know how powerful their servant's Noble Phantasms were, then a servant can simply 'tell' their masters what kind of Noble Phantasm they have and it will appear in the same manner on how the base stats are shown. This would help in making sure the servant didn't need to expand mana in order to 'show' the master their strength or somehow became careless and allowed another master to witness their Noble Phantasm while showing it.

So the idea that the young boy here, who was also a master needing to 'test' his servant's strength seemed almost unnecessary and altogether useless.

Was it because Berserker could not 'tell' his master what her Noble Phantasms were? Although that didn't seem to be the case, the pair seemed to be able to communicate quite well in fact, considering that Berserker had the 'Mad Enhancement' skill on her.

"Maybe some other masters will think that it's a waste of time or whatever, since we are connected to the servant so knowing how strong they are is straight-forward and simple," he started explaining, noticing Saber's state of bewilderment.

"But…..there are just some things that you have to witness for yourself in order to be able to grasp how strong they are and how well they will work," the boy suddenly continued on enthusiastically.

"Witness for yourself?" Saber questioned.

"Yep, that's right," the boy seemed almost more than happy to explain everything to Saber, like it was a riddle to some kind of problem.

"Hmmmmm, maybe it's easier if I said it like this. Like you and all of the other Heroic Spirits that were summoned tonight, each one of you guys had a story, a legend to be told," the boy began drawing a parallel.

"Anyone can know your legends and how great you guys were just by 'knowing' those legends and reading it from…..let's say the internet or from the library-"

Internet? Library? That was what they used to disseminate information during this era right? Saber thought. The Holy Grail did parted information concerning that to her, but the idea that so much information could be stored in such a tiny object was sometimes hard for her to comprehend. Back when she was alive she even had a harder time to learn how to read.

"-but nobody will ever know really how great you guys are. They see, but they don't observe. They hear, but they don't listen. They know, but they can't comprehend," the boy went on.

See but not observe? Hear but not listen? Know but can't understand? That was an interesting way to look at it, Saber thought.

"The real way, the only real way, is to witness it with your own eyes, and that's when…..that's when the truth will actually unfold and you'll really be able to understand how great a Heroic Spirit is," the boy said.

That's when the truth will unfold? That got Saber thinking about her earlier encounter with Lancer of Black. Initially, Lancer seemed almost cold and uncaring, but that was because the legends made him as such, but after talking to him, Saber finally found out that wasn't the case.

The young boy here seemed to be wiser than herself in that regard, she thought.

"It's like, we would never have known that Frankenstein's monster was actually some small little girl-"

"Grrrr," Berserker growled at this remark.

"-or that Lancer wasn't actually a vampire in reality or…or…..or even you. We could never know that in real life you would be so beautiful," the boy said.

"Huh?" Saber looked at the boy when he commented her about her looks.

The boy must have realized the slip of his tongue, because then his face seemed to have turned redder by now.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean anything like that! Well, not that you aren't pretty or anything. No, that's not what I mean. What I mean is that you are pretty but it's just that-" the boy went on speaking frantically, trying to erase his embarrassment to no avail before Saber finally interrupted him by placing a hand over his shoulder to calm him down.

"Thank you," she said kindly, smiling at the young boy.

"Huh?" he looked dumbfounded.

"No one has ever said that I looked beautiful when I was alive, you must have been the first," Saber smiled at the boy.

There was silence after that, as if the boy had truly calmed down. The two didn't notice how close they were to one another.

"Uiiii, uiii," Berserker interrupted the duo. Saber chuckled at Berserker's untimely interjection.

"Yes, you too Berserker, you're beautiful as well," she remarked with a smile.

"Yaaa, yaaa," Berserker responded happily at Saber's compliment.

"Well then," Saber started speaking again, she took a step back from the boy. Her curiosity finally sated.

"The two of you must be really tired after what you have been doing. I think it would be best if we end this conversation for now and retire for the night," Saber said.

"Y-yeah, I guess," the boy said.

"I would love to hear more about what you have been doing and this concept of 'truth' and Heroic Spirits that you spoke of…ummmm," Saber mumbled trying to remember whether she got the name of the boy.

"Caules," the boy said.

"Huh?"

"My name," he said quietly.

"Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia. That's my name, it's hard to say it all, so just call me Caules," he said while a bit embarrassed for no apparent reason.

"That's a wonderful name, Caules," Saber of Black said.

"Y-yeah, thanks," Caules said, scratching the back of his head at the praise.

"I will not keep you any longer, you may go," Saber bowed politely.

"Berserker, it will be an honor working with you in the battles to come," Saber then said.

"Yaaa, yaaa," Berserker responded. Caules smirked at the remark.

"Well then, see you later Saber. Berserker let's go, I'm tired and I feel so dirty," Caules said to Berserker.

"Huh," Berserker nodded and then she followed behind her master as they left Saber back at the hallway.

As the pair of servant and master went their way and left her there, Saber could not stop but contemplate and what had just transpired.

'What an interesting person,' she thought.

There was something intriguing about the boy that she couldn't put her words into. Her senses were telling her that the boy was meant to do great things in the future. Whether it was in the near future or later on or what those things would be, she couldn't know. But it was like he was some kind of unearthed diamond, surrounded by a sea of glass. No one would have noticed him if they looked at the wide open ocean of shards of glass, but, if they inspected closely enough, then they would have found something truly amazing.

She could feel that the boy had a pure heart. It was different than what she felt from the other Heroic Spirits. Lancer seemed to have an air of calmness and control like the sea, ready to strike and protect everything within its realm, while Rider had the spirit of a blazing sun which could bathe all in his glory and radiance. But this boy was different than any of them. If Saber had to make a parallel, his spirit would be like a seed. A seed from a gigantic tree, that would one day grow tall and bring shade and sustenance to all that were under him. But he needed time, he also needed help, he couldn't do it alone.

"Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia," Saber of Black spoke his name fluently to herself in an inaudible voice while looking back at where the boy left.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Just some trivial knowledge that I find to be interesting: the year Joan of Arc was burn at the stake (1431) is the same year that Vlad III was born. It really does seem that when one hero dies, another takes their place.


End file.
